Midnight Magic

MEDIUM: Digital Painting | STYLE: Painterly Realism | SIZE: 8 x 10 | ORIENTATION: Portrait | TOOLS: Procreate, 13″ iPad Pro, Apple Pencil Pro, Giclee Fine Art Archival paper and ink | AVAILABILITY: Prints available.

Midnight Magic is a different type of entry to Shadowmyst Art’s Wildlife Gallery. Dolphins are stunning, intelligent, and endlessly interesting, which is why one was chosen as the subject for this piece. The choice of a night scene with a full moon was meant to complement the mystery and magic of this incredible animal.

ARTIST’S PROCESS: Midnight Magic was painted in Procreate on a 13” iPad Pro using the Apple Pencil Pro. This work replicates traditional painting’s depth and texture through layered digital brushwork. It starts with careful structural drawing followed by multiple rounds of color blocking, value refinement, and detail work on skin texture and species characteristics to capture temperament and action. The full moon at night provided a dramatic background to highlight the dolphin and the action of its jump from the water. Dark tones for the water and sky punctuated with the glowing moon and its reflections on the clouds and the water just behind the dolphin created a dynamic silhouette in the middle of the canvas drawing the viewer’s eye directly to the deeply night shaded dolphin. 

CHALLENGE: Capturing the water’s movement and drips sliding off the dolphin’s body during its ascent was a challenge. Watercolor style washes were used to lay down the darks of the sky and the water in the background, while smaller more defined brush stroke were used to create the light patterns and enhance the water droplets with reflected color from the moon, sky and water. Procreate’s layer “add” feature was used on a separate layer above the water layers to enhance shine where the light was strongest on the water drops bringing movement and clarity to the spray.

SUBJECTS AND THEMES: Wildlife — Species Study — Painterly Realism — Nature — Wildlife Habitats — Dolphin — Ocean — Moonlight — Night Scene — Procreate Artwork