Draw Paint Letter: Spring Part 3

PRINTABLE: SHINY AS A SALAMANDER

For several sessions, we will focus on drawing and painting pond life -- plants, animals and insects that live in the water or along its edge. We'll also do some "pondscapes" to paint water and mist.

Water dogs, the slippery-skinned salamanders who pass through an aquatic stage during their life cycle, look like an odd cross between a frog and a lizard. There are hundreds of types of salamanders, with an astonishing assortment of physical features: some can breathe through their skin, some can regrow a missing tail or leg, some can protect themselves by poking the sharp tips of their ribs through their skin to become a sort of amphibious porcupine.

For our purposes, though, we will look at their shiny surfaces. Today's illustrated printable is about techniques for drawing things that are glossy or wet. The salamander -- whose skin must stay moist all the time -- is an ideal model.