painting a duck

[jamesfa]

i will be painting my first duck shortly after i burn in the feather details.does any of you duck carvers have some tips or hints for painting.
i have been working on this duck very slowly,hoping to get it to turn out right,not atall like caricatures

[David_Aaron_Sercel]

jamesfa,

What kind of paints will you be using?

What kind of duck is it?

Don't apply your colors in one heavy coat. build the colors up
slowly with thinned down paint. the colors will come out much softer
and richer that way.

Make sure that the transitions between colors are not hard and sudden
but rather, blended together and soft.

Try to have at least three shades of color on every feather.
Even on feathers that appear to be one solid color.

Let me explain what I mean.

Have a lighter value to paint on the highlights (the highest parts of the
feather that catch the light); a dark value to paint in the shadows or
lower areas of the feather; and a medium value, in other words, a color
that is between the highlight and the shadow, to paint the areas of
the feather that are between the light and dark values. For example, if
you are painting a brown feather and are going to use burnt umber for the
medium value. To get the light value, add a little yellow. And for
the dark value add a little black. You should choose the colors
carefully so the different values don’t clash. For instance,
if you were using burnt sienna instead of burnt umber, you
should add red or orange for the light value because
burnt sienna is a red-based brown. Even adding black
you need to be careful. Some blacks, such as
mars black, are a blue-black, whereas others, like
carbon black, are a brown-black.

Painting this way, by developing highlights and shadows, gives the
carving a much more animated and soft look.

[jamesfa]

the duck is a bufflehead-drake and the basic colors are black and white.with some irridisent green on the head.
i am planning on using acrylic paint,your previous message has already given me some goodtips for painting.

[David_Aaron_Sercel]

I really like painting birds that have large white areas. They really give
you a chance to achieve some neat effects with paint.

I would probably highlight the white with a mix of white and a little cadium
yellow light. For shadows I would mix the white with paynes gray. Also,
if you under paint with gesso you could blend in some shadows and let
them show through the paint a little bit.

For the black I would make my medium value by mixing carbon black
with burnt sienna and highlight with a mixture of the medium value, and
raw sienna. For shadows I would paint the feather tips with straight
carbon black.

I would try to achieve most of the iridescent effect without using
iridescent paint and just use the iridescent paint for some highlights.
It is easy to overdo iridescence.

Jo Sonja brand acrylics have some excellent iridescent paints available.

Do you use an airbrush? They really help with the blending,
highlighting/shadowing, and adding iridescence. It is amazing
how much of a difference using one makes on the over all soft
look of the painting.

Waterfowl Carving with J.D.Sprankle has 2 photos of carvings he did of Bufflehead drakes plus a paragraph under field notes that give the colors he uses.

[jamesfa]

thanks guys for your reponses.
David - Im more a caricature carver but i belong to a small carving group they are mostly bird & duck carvers so i wanted to try my hand at a duck.an air brush is something to consider for the futur should i continue with birds and ducks.
I read thru your tutorial on your website it was excellent,have you considered offering the tutorial to wood carving illustrated or carving mag.it certainly gave me some good ideas for futur birds.
i also went to the library and picked up a book'how to paint decoys' by tony hillarman and inside i found a course outline and painting schedule for a bufflehead left behind by some previous user who took a course somewhere and it gave the color formula for the various areas.as you indicated it included the base color,center color and edge color.which is something i probably would not of thought of and would have just use black & white.

so thanks again for the tips,for without your comments i wouldn't have been able to fiqure out the painting schedule