In this video I am painting Anubis – the jackal-head Egyptian God of mummification. The Ancient Egyptians observed that jackals roam in the desert at night in search for food. Digging on the graves of the poor, they eat their entrails. For Ancient Egyptians, jackals are believed to be divine creatures guiding the souls to the afterlife. 

I chose Anubis because he is my favorite with his dark and mysterious character. Of all the iconic representations of death, he is the one wearing a sophisticated, elegant and colorful earth tone fashion. Ironic isn’t it.

As to my painting process, other than painting Anubis, my goal is to reuse my not so old acrylic tools like Liquitex Basics and acrylic pads. If I’m not mistaken, I bought the acrylic pads since 2017 and has forgotten about them. When I organized my things , I saw them and decided to reuse them. For the Liquitex Basic, I used them last July 2021. I think it’s one of the dangers of upgrading tools leaving the old stuff unutilized.

To start, I applied black gesso on the acrylic pads. Using acrylic charcoal pencil, I drew gridlines. From my reference, I copy the image to the acrylic pad. I sketched the figure of Anubis using liner brush. Then I applied Golden Clear Leveling Gel to make the surface smooth to paint or else it is dry and the paint will become chalky. 

 After sketching, I create a grayscale. It is bluish because I used Blue gray instead of neutral gray 5. After the grayscale is dry, I applied Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Red, Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna, Prussian Blue, Titanium White and Mars Black. I ensured that the they have red skin or else I may be bashed in redit Egypt community. But in fairness with them they are supportive. 

Here’s some of their comments. 

I got 78 upvotes from the r/Egypt. 

BTW, for the concept, I applied Jacques Derrida’s Deconstruction theory. Instead representing Anubis in the usual heiroglyphic manner I made him drinking coffee. I love coffee and subconsciously extended in my art. Also I was thinking of new ideas for art that time. I’m more into portraiture before this painting. For the final touch, I applied Gamblin Gamvar matte varnish to protect it and have a more vibrant look. For the brushes I used Borciani n Bonazzi Paintbrushes.

I hope you like my video. Please also visit my website Sandjackal.com to see the gallery of my artworks and graphic design services. Thank you for watching.