Author Freya Pickard is working on another story called Arturina. She wanted a picture to portray a space opera. Like the previous collaboration, she gave me free rein to draw whatever that inspires me from her collections of Pinterest images. I chose the chameleon because its skin looks interesting to paint! Freya said that the chameleon in her story is a slippery one because it changes its shape a lot and he cannot remember his original form! He is both a protector and a tempter. His character and physical form shifts and changes throughout the story.

I sketched the chameleon lightly with a pencil and outlined the major parts using a pen.

I painted the chameleon’s spots using Burnt Sienna and Orange.

I used Cobalt Blue to paint the spaces between the spots.

I darkened the shadow area of the chameleon using Prussian Blue. I also added more darks on the brown spots and details on the eye.

I tore pieces of paper that resembled the texture of the branch and leaves and created a collage.

I added more darks on the blues and painted small organic shapes inside the colored spots. I used a black pen to draw small circles on the body of the chameleon to give it a bumpy textured skin. You can read more about the Arturina story over on Pure Haiku here.