African Elephants are the largest walking animals on our planet. Their ears are bigger than that of the Indian Elephant, and enable them to radiate excess heat. Their tusks are actually two of their upper incisor teeth, and they continue to grow throughout the elephant’s lifetime.

This project is challenging, we are working with a lot of detail, and some painting experience would be very beneficial. That said, the project is broken into small manageable steps, so less experienced artists may want to try an element of the painting, or practise the different stages separately. This is a project that will stretch over several days, and this gives an opportunity to continually reassess the whole piece with fresh eyes, on more than one occasion.

With anything like this, please take your time, don't try to get this project completed within a day, remember, you should never rush a painting. Stepping back and taking your eyes away from the painting, even for just a couple of minutes, can help you spot things you may not have noticed, when your focus is very often close to the piece.

So let's get ready to paint lots of wrinkly skin and fine details, using many different techniques along the way.

Practice those colours out on some scrap watercolour paper before you start, just so you have a good understanding about the colours you will need, and in turn fewer mistakes along the way. :-)

Paul