Turkey!: Day 2, Designing Painting

FIRST I decide on a canvas size. I picked a 20"x 24" for this one and then opened a page that size in Photoshop. Next I paint the canvas bright orange, so it will be ready. I've taken a lot of turkey pictures, but I don't have any egg or hatchling ones. So I found this in a book I have, along with other pictures of eggs etc.

NEXT, I need a hen – which this is not. You can tell by the beard hanging and the leg spurs, but mostly because of the pink head. I did like the stance though. I think I can use this.


I FLOP the picture, take off beard and spurs, then add a foot. The background is transparent (not really white).

I DROP in the hatchling picture behind hen.





I MOVE one baby forward by cutting and pasting in front (each piece is on its own layer in Photoshop, and layers can be moved in front, behind etc.) I had to cut hen's right leg, separate it from the hen layer, put it on its own layer, then move it in front of chick. Now it looks like the hen is standing over all the eggs.






I ADD leaves to bottom.



I DROP in several different backgrounds and liked this yellow best. Because the hen is dark, I liked the gold sky behind. But I'm still not happy with the hen's body- not enough happening.


THERE! I can live with that. Now I will print this out (it is already sized 20 x 24). I print out on letter size paper and tape them together. I am now ready to paint black lines on orange canvas.