I have been finishing up the Raven painting I began a while ago. The colors look vibrant - I couldn't see making him all black and dreary- he is way too full of sass for that. I included some work in progress from from another post below.
I know- the raven has too many toes- five here in my painting although you can't see the back toe. I wanted them to look more like hands--
John Howe did it best-- the more human number just seemed fitting.
What did I learn from this painting: Test all your colors first before you start laying down washes. I chose a magenta color that was highly staining, when I ran into some trouble with a misplaced wash I had difficulty lifting the magenta. Also use a large water container, or better yet use two- one to rise brushes and one to lay down washes. It sounds obvious and simple, but I found myself muddying things up because I used dirty water, or running back to the sink time and again to refill my water container.