Three Ladybugs painting process

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Last week I decided I wanted to paint a scene with some ladybugs on leaves with some sunlight reflecting off their backs. So the first step was to get out some paper, a pencil, and some markers and make a little sketch.

blank slate
I began with a pencil and outlined the ladybugs and some rough leaves. Then I finished the sketch by coloring in everything, making sure to leave white spots on the ladybugs where I wanted the sun to be reflecting off their shells.

markers are fun to use
The average color of the artwork is going to be a medium green, so I gave a base coat to my cotton canvas of that color. Then I let it dry and did some pencil sketching on the canvas, using my marker sketch as a reference for where the ladybugs should be. You can erase pencil writing on (dried) acrylic to a certain degree if the pencil lines aren't drawn onto the canvas too thick. Once I was happy with the pencil sketching, I went over the linework with dark, almost black acrylic paint, so the shapes would be easier for me to see.


After the acrylic linework was down and dried, I started blocking in some base colors for the ladybugs and the leaves and the background.

It's supposed to look terrible at this point.
Once I reach this point it's down to prioritization. I focus on adding detail to the ladybugs first, then I can move to the leaves or the background.

still needs a little more polish
Before the painting was completely done, I also painted the sides of the canvas with a dark green color.

Sides & top are painted first. Then let dry and flip upside down to paint the bottom.

After another few hours of work, I finished the painting and signed it in the bottom right corner.


This (11" by 14") painting is for sale and available for purchase through Ebay. If you don't use Ebay you can also leave me a comment below about your interest in the artwork or send me an email at johnwallie@outlook.com

To view the painting at full size, check it out on FineArtAmerica. You can also order prints through the FAA website if you desire.

Thanks for reading! :)

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