"Common Toad" 7-8-08

While walking in the woods at Stiglmeier Park in Cheektowaga, NY, I happened upon a toad...almost stepped on the little guy (girl?) because it blended in so well with the dead leaves on the woodland floor. I took pictures, usually very hard to capture a frog or toad because the just don't sit still while you focus etc....they have other ideas! Above is a little tiny sketch I did after I caught a few pictures, noting the light stripe and other markings which helped me identify him later. There are so many toads and frogs for me to learn!
Later I sat late at night and drew this sketch above, from a photo with a micron permanent ink pen. You can see, I didn't start with pencil drawing, I just drew in a sketchy manner to block in his shape. Sometimes I like the looseness of that look, some pen lines showing at the end of the drawing. You can also hide unwanted lines by adding the dark lines for background.
Here I added a light wash in watercolor of yellow ochre + sepia, just a touch. I was careful to leave the light stripe and light areas of his body, and add more wash layers to the darker areas.
Here you can see, I added green by mixing olive green + a touch of sepia to dull it. The brown spots are sepia and permanent rose. The background is prussian blue + ultramarine blue + black. To make his bumps or warts stand out a bit, I tried to use the tip of a very small pointed brush to outline them a little with the brown. Then some spots were just painted with the watercolor, which made a softer looking wart than one that was drawn with ink. When I was finished I felt I should have made his mouth or nose, stick a out just a little more, it looks a bit short...but it's done.
These are pictures I took of the little guy...um...girl? in the woods. Hope you enjoyed looking at my little sketch and the pictures. More on that walk later....