Painting a Chameleon 🦎 process breakdown

Hey Patron!

Here’s a step-by-step look at how I painted this cool little guy. I’ll walk you through my thought process, decisions, and techniques below.

• 🧠 1. Concept & Sketch
  This one was recommended by @coke_sketchies over on my Instagram. I knew it'd make a great painting because chameleons have great shapes and built-in color potential, so it felt like a perfect fit.

  • I kept the sketch super simple — just enough to get the general gesture/pose and silhouette down. I focus more on shape and attitude at this stage than precision.

  • U might notice that I also began planning out my cast shadows here!- Describing the shape that it makes early on eliminated any guesswork later when I started painting in the actual shadows.

• 🎯 2. Blocking in Shapes + Color Pass
  I blocked in the major forms using solid, flat shapes.
  This part’s all about silhouette and big decisions: tail shape, limb thickness, head proportions.

  • I try to think in “puzzle pieces” here — each shape should be simple and read clearly.

  • I then used high-saturation colors early so I could dial them back later rather than building up slowly. For the color palette, I leaned into acid greens, yellows, and hints of blue on the edges to exaggerate the character and make him pop.

    • TIP: Since we will be laying in shadows with our multiply layer later (darkening effect), I really made these colors saturated and bright, in order to compensate!

• 🌈 3. Color & Ambient Occlusion Pass

  Next, I started placing ambient occlusion (AO) shadows — these are the soft, contact shadows that show up where surfaces touch or creases form. Think: under the belly, between the toes, where the tail curls against the body, etc.

  • I added these shadows conservatively, just in key spots where things would logically trap light. Even a little bit of AO goes a long way — it helps the forms feel grounded and makes the flat colors pop with a bit more dimensional weight!

• 🕶️ 4. Shadow Pass: Building Form

  With my base colors and AO laid down, I moved into the main shadow pass — these are the more visible, deliberate shadows that describe form and light direction.

  • Unlike the AO, which stays tucked into creases, these shadows help define the larger planes of the body and create depth through cast shadows (like the limbs casting onto the body or the tail casting onto itself). I kept them lighter than the AO, but still distinct enough to clearly show where the light isn’t hitting directly.

  • Because I had loosely planned my shadow shapes back in the sketch phase, this part flowed really smoothly. I already had a sense of how the light would fall, so it was just about committing to those shapes and dialing in the values!

• ✨ 5. Final Pass: Adjustments & Polish

  At this stage, most of the painting was locked in — but I always like to push the image a little further with some final touches and adjustments.

  • I used Levels adjustment layers to boost the overall contrast and make sure my darks and lights were hitting hard enough without blowing anything out.

  • Then I added Hue/Saturation layers to squeeze out a bit more vibrancy — especially in the midtones and rim lights. It’s easy to lose saturation while rendering, so this is where I punch it back in strategically.

  • Finally, I did a bit of subtle liquify work to tweak the proportions — nothing major, just a few nudges to improve balance and gesture after having stared at the piece for a while.

  These kinds of tweaks can really help tie everything together and give the piece that last 10% of finish.

  Final Thoughts

  This was a fun one — stylized animals are a great way to practice form, color, and expression all at once.

  If you’re studying something similar:

  • Pick references with strong shapes ( curating the right kind of reference is important!!)

  • Simplify, don’t outline

  • Try pushing colors early

  • Let your brushstrokes show

  Thank you for making it through this super long essay! Let me know if you want more written process posts like this one. I'm always trying out new mediums and tools to present my content to you, so lmk what resonates most!

Also, sticker orders are shipping very soon! I will keep you posted 🫡