Hen mallard paint schemes?

Andy Grant

Andy Grant

Well-known member
After reading the thread about painting hens I got thinking. So far my solution has been do only make drakes! But this solution is not sustainable. Can accomplished painters post pictures of BEGINNER style hens? Beginners like me need to learn to crawl before we walk, walk before we run. Maybe roll over before I crawl.
 
Very timely! Ive got a pair of mallards about ready for paint. Would like to learn a few tricks of painting a hen puddler.
 
Leave it at the underpainting stage. Couldn't find any pics without feather layout sketched on..... Stop one step before drawing the feather layout - maybe do some blending of color values into the base colors to break the monotony. Same as you'd a blackduck rig without any feather detail. You can still shade tertials, etc - even add a speculum.

View attachment Janshen4.jpg
 
This is really simple. Lay down your base colors, then a big round brush for the big feathers, and a little round brush for the small ones. Use a fan blender to soften them a bit.....
TealPair10.jpg

same idea here, but used a fan blender for the "feathers"
CinnTealPair.jpg

MallardPair.jpg

Also look at how factory wood or cork birds were done, old wildfowlers or LLBs. You can see how a simple quick paint on a hen can look fine!
 
Andy, if you have a specimen in the freezer, i can help you---Drop me an e mail at
gwdecoys@verizon.net
I have the color scheme for both hen and drake, and even though it will be a chapter in the painting a gunning stool book-which, may be done when i check out, i will gladly pass this tool on to you!
 
Andy,
I'm working on a pictorial tutorial like some of the other pdf's on my website: www.lockstockbarrell.com and the Hen Mallard is one of my target works right now. I'll get on the stick and get it finished. If you want, keep an eye on my website for it or I can email you a bunch of step by step pics until I get the tutorial done.
Lou
 
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