How to paint a large subject over a subtle background?

Post date: 2020-09-22 11:34:45
Views: 198
Painters, help! I want to paint a large (koi fish) over a background (stars, galaxies). I know how to paint each thing separately, but I am just getting back into painting after a long hiatus and need some tips on executing it properly.

I used to paint in acrylics all the time (~20+ yrs. ago), and I'm getting back into it, thanks to some recent bursts of inspiration.

My new vision is a koi or shubunkin fish against a cosmic nighttime sky. (I am inspired by my own shubunkins, who wow me with their stunning beauty every day, but I want to create something a bit abstract as well.)

After making some preliminary studies in oils, watercolors, drawing in various media, etc. I would like to get back into acrylics more. This is what I have on hand and I don't want to get into a ridiculous amount of money for additional supplies. Although I'm historically much more familiar with acrylics, it's been a while since I've done more formal work. I already have a prepared gessoed black canvas, which I can add more black to as a blending agent as I work. I have a healthy stock of brushes and paints, which have all held up rather nicely since my last spurt of creativity.

I know how to execute the nighttime sky effect that I want; I also know how to create the koi/shubunkin fish. I'm having a hard time remembering after all these years which goes first; the cosmic background, or to build it around the koi, which I would start with in that case. My google-fu isn't going very well lately and I want to get my technique right the first time.

Should I outline the koi first and then build the sky around it and finish the koi at the end? Or the other way around? Any tips, suggestions, websites/links, videos, etc. would be more than welcome!
Number of Comments
Please click Here to read the full story.
 
Other Top and Latest Questions:
Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Disney, Robinhood, Palantir, IDEXX Laboratories & more
Big moves in an AI data center power stock. What we want from Tuesday's earnings
question2answer have everything accept one...
Answered: I have a project for you... (Developer)
Disney beats Wall Street expectations propelled by theme parks and streaming
Erratic behavior in bitcoin, silver and memory stocks threatens to unnerve bull market
Trump says U.S. and India reached trade deal, will lower tariffs immediately
How the EV pullback is affecting factories and jobs in the South
Software stock rout shocks Street: 'Nowhere to hide'... 'Morass of gloom'
Anthropic says no to ads on Claude chatbot, weeks after OpenAI made move to test them