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Painting frogs using sumi-e and Chinese brush painting techniques can be a lot of fun! Frogs come in all different shapes, sizes and colors, so whatever you create, there will be a frog like that somewhere.You can even put them on Christmas cards!
How Frogs Spend Christmas
Two different techniques: you can paint frogs by creating an outline first, like the frogs above, and then coloring them, or you can put color on your brush and create the shape of the frog by building the volume. This is called "boneless technique". In this post I will be demonstrating the outline technique. I use a thin raw xuan ("rice") paper, but you could use a double xuan paper or even mulberry paper and other semi-sized Asian papers. You can learn more about Asian papers in this blog post.
Frogs in Outline Technique: use a small Chinese brush that comes to a good point and dip the brush in strong black ink. Start with the eyes and head, then the curve of the back. Make the back legs big and strong - frogs can jump up to 55 times their length in one leap. Once the outline is created, you can add markings on the body and legs in black ink. These help to camouflage the frog from predators.
Frogs in Outline Technique: use a small Chinese brush that comes to a good point and dip the brush in strong black ink. Start with the eyes and head, then the curve of the back. Make the back legs big and strong - frogs can jump up to 55 times their length in one leap. Once the outline is created, you can add markings on the body and legs in black ink. These help to camouflage the frog from predators.
Different Varieties of Frogs
Color your frogs: once the outline is dry, you can use a variety of colors. You can use Asian paints, like Marie's watercolors, Yasutomo Chinese tube colors, Chinese chips or even Western watercolors. Be aware that Western colors may run if you wet the paper after you finish painting. The Asian colors are permanent on the paper and will not run.
Study Sheet of Outlined Frogs
Different poses: you can look up "frogs" on the internet and find many photos. Tracing their outline may help you get the proportions right. Watch frog videos to see how they move. Did you know that frogs don't have necks???? It's true: they can't turn their heads, so they have to move their entire bodies. Their huge eyes bulge out from their heads at an angle and swivel to watch what's going on.
Frog Jamboree
Practice sheets allow you to try out different angles and expressions without feeling pressured to create a finished composition. Practicing just elements like eyes or feet can help you focus in on them. Here I am practicing leaping frogs:
Leaping Frog Practice
And here's a leaping frog with color added. See how I varied the colors and tones. The circle behind the frog's ear is its eardrum. You can usually see it; it is a little lighter than the frog's skin.
Leaping Frog
Combining poses: Just one frog can make a painting, or you can add one or two (or a dozen!) more to create a group. You can add insects, flowers, lilies and lotus ponds to fill out the scene. My galleries or this blog post may give you some ideas. It is important to have the elements in a painting relate to one another, to "share the space". See how the three frogs below form a unit :
Three Frogs Make a Party
Background Story: you can make a story to go with your frogs, like this one, titled "The Eavesdropper". You can learn how to color this painting in my YouTube video.
The Eavesdropper
More frogs! You can find more inspiration in my "Frogs & Critters" Gallery. Feel free to use my compositions as models. You can also purchase my "Fabulous Frogs 2023 Calendar" and Frog notecards in the website store. I adore comments and am happy to answer questions, so don't be shy!