Today, my hubby took a Chipmunk in his lunchbag.
The Doodlewash prompt for today is Brown Sugar. This guy has a lot of brown in his coat and he sure is sweet, so I think he fits!
Artwork-Zebra Zensations Technical Pen and Daniel Smith watercolor on a Hahnemühle Cold Pressed Watercolor Postcard. Brushes: Princeton Neptune Quill Size 4 & Neptune Round Size 8.

My initial pencil drawing was done freehand. Even though there are many shapes, they are all fairly simple and not overly intertwined, so I didn’t feel the need to use the grid method.

With my trusty Technical pen, I drew the outline and details. I established where the darkest values were, but I didn’t fill in because I want the paint to show in these areas.
Notice that I didn’t use pen on all of the grasses, only the ones up front. The pencil lines are left as guides, but those grasses in back are less important and shouldn’t be given much focus.

My new favorite color to use for initial washes on many animals is Daniel Smith’s Buff Titanium. It is an opaque color, so I avoid using it after the initial wash, but it is just the right color for those creamy undercoats and points.
Light washes of Hansa Yellow Medium and Phthalo Green were used for the grass and Cerulean Blue Chromium for the sky.
Notice that I let the colors run even in the sky area. These are unimportant areas, and in real life they would be out of focus, moving in the wind with indistinct edges, so I don’t worry too much about them.

The Cerulean Blue Chromium is used on the eyes and nose for highlights, and blended with Goethite and Burnt Sienna in the face and body. I use darker mixes than I did for the initial washes, but they are still fairly light.
I wet the areas that I intend to paint, and drop the color, just touching the tip of the brush to the wet, letting them all flow together.
For the grasses, I do the same thing using more Hansa Yellow Medium and Phthalo Green, while adding Goethite. Besides turning the grasses a more natural color, it ties them to the colors in the chipmunk.
Some of the chipmunk’s fur is ticked – each single hair having black, brown and white. I still haven’t found a method for portraying that, that I’m truly happy with. In this case, the ticking isn’t heavy, so I use the white Uniball Signo gel pen in a few places and call it done.
Wanna buy some of these cool toys now?
Hahnemühle Cold Press Watercolor Postcards (you can find my review here).
Daniel Smith Watercolor Half Pan Set of 15 Ultimate Mixing Set
Princeton Artist Brush Neptune, Brushes for Watercolor Series 4750, Quill Synthetic Squirrel, Size 4
Princeton Artist Brush Neptune, Brushes for Watercolor Series 4750, Round Synthetic Squirrel, Size 8
Like this very much, BROWN SUGAR CHIPMUNK, wonderful prompt an perfect Name for the little guy…. so cute with those chubby cheeks. The colours are great an your presketching is wonderful. Like that you provide us with details on how you came to the final art piece, they are very helpful. Thanks for the happy BROWN SUGAR CHIPMUNK, he makes my rainy day brighter.
Have a happy bright day.
Thank you, Joan! My day is brighter because of your comments!
I really enjoy seeing your process and the end result is so cute!
Thank you so much, Margret!
Your chipmunk is very cute and looks sweet. They cause too many problems in my gardens, though.
Thank you, Susan! They can definitely be pests!
What an adorable little guy this chipmunk is, his cheeks filled with nuts. The painting is lovely, so much detail but so much allowance for the quality of the watercolor paints to find their own place on the card. It takes courage to let the paints flow.
Thank you, Sharon! I agree about courage – watercolor isn’t always for the faint of heart, lol!