An early morning drink

Today I am quite happy to have painted a small painting of a Spinosaurus taking a drink from a lake, in the morning. The idea came from a quick sketch below, drawn while wating for the MRT. Done using photoshop, of course.

In my mind, I wanted an early morning look with a cool atmosphere without the sun shining too harshly. So I laid down some colors beneath the sketch layer (which was in Multiply mode). I immediately felt that the perspective in the sketch was a little off, because the horizon would be too high to be seen in that angle which I've drawn the dino drinking in the lake. So, I decided to omit the horizon and background landscape, and replace them with some water plants to maintain some visual interest at the top area of the painting.

After awhile, I was not satisfied with the colors because the water looked too green, and it didn't imply sunlight coming in at all. As if the whole scene was on a cloudy day. However, I liked the colors on the dino as it has a nice contrast of Blue and yellow, like a crocodile.

So, I decided to scrap the whole painting and start anew, while googling at some reference images along the way. My new colors are much less colorful, and retains a large white-ish area for the water, which works pretty well to allow me to paint some reflection of the blue sky and imaginary foliage somewhere nearby. I detailed out some areas near the dino with some rocks and pebbles that can be seen through the water beneath the dino's shadow. Happy!