Ruby

Here is Ruby, completed but for the mount and frame, ready to give to my sister. I have found drawing Ruby quite emotional - my sister is in residential care and it is unlikely that she will even recognise Ruby. I will just be glad if the picture can give her even a small amount of pleasure.

In the end I used pastel pencil for the background on the reverse of the drafting film - which nearly ended in disaster. The first layer went on fine, I blended it with a tissue and then attempted to add a lighter colour on top - it wouldn't blend! I eventually rubbed hard with my finger and it blended enough to not look too bad.

I shall have a break for a couple of days before starting my next piece. I think I'm going to do a snow leopard, using a photo I took at Marwell last year. The plan is to use pastels on velour paper which I haven't tried before.

more of ruby

Several hours yesterday and an hour or so this morning have brought me to this stage and I'm relieved to say that it is going quite well. It actually looks better in reality - even my husband says it's looking good and I don't often get praise from him!

Now onto her neck and chest, then the background, then mounting and framing ready for my sister's birthday.

Ruby wip 3

I've made reasonably good progress today and I feel that Ruby is now coming along nicely. I'm working on both sides of the film which I hope will add a bit of depth to the fur. As I work I am making small changes here and there to the work I've already done, a bit more colour on the inside of the ears, a slight darkening of the eye rims.

I have given some thought to the background - if I decide to do one I think I shall use Prismacolors as they blend easily and I will add it on the reverse of the film.

ear ear

Ruby is making very slow progress but at least she now has both her ears! It is a long while since I have worked on drafting film and I don't remember struggling with it like I am with this portrait. Maybe it is because I am using different pencils - polychromos - I don't know but it is frustrating. I can't give up and start over for the second time as my sister's birthday is fast approaching. Fingers crossed I will make better progress tomorrow.

Ruby 1

After a few busy days I finally got back to the drawing board. I began this new version of my sister's cat a few days ago, I was busy on it this afternoon when I remembered I hadn't done any scans. So you are seeing it a bit further on than my usual first wip - probably about 6 hours work so far, excluding the line drawing.

This is on Polydraw 050 double matt drafting film, using Faber Castell Polychromos. Black paper behind the film as I work and for the scan.

Already I am finding it difficult - with the polychromos I am finding it hard to get more than a three layers which isn't giving the depth of colour I would like. With the eyes I have worked on the reverse of the film to overcome this. Now I'm getting to the part I dread; choosing which colours to use for the fur. The colours in the photograph I had printed look way too bright and garish so I am toning them down quite a bit, referring to the computer for the colours and the photograph for the precise detail. I am using my new Optivisor for the first time, it is very helpful but at present gives me a headache after just a short time. I guess it is similar to having a new pair of glasses!

Drakkar - finis!

A couple more hours today did it and I'm happy (well reasonably) with the final result. After erasing yet again I remembered the first exercise in my drawing book (yes, the one I'm meant to be working through) and turned both the reference photo and my drawing upside down, vbg. Ok, it isn't perfect but is better than I expected yesterday when I was almost ready to give up. Amazingly it helped quite a bit, at least I think so! Feedback is appreciated as always. It will probably be after Christmas before I get started on my next piece - if I can stay away from drawing that long - after so long not doing anything I'm now wanting to draw all the time! I'm just about to order some pastel pencils so it is just possible that I will be brave and post my first attempt, then again, maybe not. Here is Drakkar, as good as I can get him. Edit, after some feedback in my UKCPS group I have darkened the shadowy area under his chin, I think it is an improvement.

A difficult kitten!

Today I erased, redid, erased, redid again - and I've still not got it right! I am really struggling to get the fur just above his nose correct. I'm almost tempted to leave it as it is but I think I will try just once more, then if it is still wrong it will just have to be one to put down to experience.

Here we are again

I sneaked in an hour or so this afternoon when I really should have been writing Xmas cards. It was such a dull afternoon that I drew under artificial light - never a good idea. I'm not happy with how this drawing is going, I have a feeling that when I look at it again tomorrow a large part of today's work will be erased and redone. Posting it always helps, I can be more objective when I see the picture on screen. I ask myself what would I think if it was someone elses work? Now I can already see there is a lot wrong but I will leave it for tonight - but expect changes tomorrow!

Drakkar's progress

There is not much to show since the last upload but I'm posting anyway! I don't want anyone that checks to think I've given up, lol. This scan is with black paper behind the drafting film instead of the pink, at least now you can see the beginnings of his pale fur and it will also be easier for me, being able to see where I'm drawing is always helpful! It is only the very beginnings - lots more time and work needed. With Christmas looming ever closer I may not get too much done over the next few days, lots of cards to write and present wrapping to be done. Today I did my last ever dog club Christmas party, I am giving up my class after 16 years. It will seem strange to have my Wednesdays free after so long but more time for art and photography, I hope. Time to cook dinner, so here is Drakkar.

birman kitten update

A lot more work on my kitten today - his name is Drakkar and I must thank Alice again for letting me use her beautiful photo as a reference. Hopefully it will look like him when finished though as I've said before, I am a long way from being able to achieve photo realism! I have spent a long time on his eyes today and I think they are a vast improvement on yesterday's wip post. I worked on the reverse of the film as well as the front and have smoothed out the colour and deepened it, using both Prismacolors and Derwent Coloursoft pencils and lots of blending with a Lyra Splenda Blender. The initial colour that I used for the fur around his eyes didn't look right so that all had to be erased and redone - with Derwent Studio, Artist & Drawing pencils - so to date he is a real mixture of different pencils. His dear little nose was also done by working on the front and back of the film, it's one way of getting around the lack of layering that I can do on film, though hard to work out what colours to use where! I can see that the scan hasn't picked up the pale fur around his eyes very well but it is there! Maybe when there is a little contrast with adjoining fur it will show up more. Today's work has taken about three hours. Here he is - I think he's coming on quite well, hope you think so too!

eye eye!

It has taken a while but today I found some time to make a proper start on my little birman kitten. He is soooo cute. I decided to work on the eyes first as I expected them to be difficult - as indeed they were - so I'm quite pleased with the result. I also experimented with using a masque pen for the whiskers & eyebrows. Not very successful as every time I brushed away pencil debris it caught on the lines of masking fluid and made a mess and if I brushed harder it took away the masking fluid as well! I will try again though and just be more careful of the direction I brush as I think it should be easier than putting in the whiskers first and having to work around them. The scan isn't brilliant, the eye colour is darker in reality, it may look better with black paper behind rather than the pink but I chose pink as the little kitten is resting on a pink cushion and there is a lot of relected pink in his white fur.

Birman kitten line drawing

Not much to show for this week, every day I have been stopped by more pressing things from getting on with a new picture. Today, despite an awful dull day I have just managed to get the line drawing of a birman kitten on to the drafting film. One of my Flickr contacts has kindly given me permission to use her beautiful photos as a reference, thanks Alice.

This picture will be a close up of the kitten's face. I've worked out how to get the line drawing on the reverse of the drafting film so it's the right way when I turn it over. This means it will be much easier to erase the lines as I go along and is one of the good things about drafting film! Looking at it on screen, I can already see that the whiskers need repositioning.

Honey - finished take two!

After some feedback in the UKCPS group I've made some minor adjustments, I think she looks better now.

Honey ~ finished!

Yes, she's finished. The fur on her neck isn't right but it's as good as I can get it. I'm still not sure why I have so much trouble with it and what it is I do wrong. If anyone who reads my blog has any suggestions I'm happy to hear them - I need all the help I can get!

Next I shall try and finish the little robin I started back in January, maybe in time to print off a few Christmas cards. After that, maybe something a little different; I'm thinking of trying pastel pencils. Just a possible at the moment - I will have to buy some - but I've seen some demos recently that are quite inspiring and I'm quite keen to have a go.

Honey's progress

I had hoped that I would be posting my completed picture today but as you can see that hasn't happened. Not too much progress in fact which is a shame, the light today was perfect but I had to catch up with paid work - I have to do something to pay for all my art materials! I'm comingto the bit I like least, the soft and fluffy looking fur down her neck. I always have difficulty making it look realistic; more so than anywhere else - at least I think so. I am going to try and do my pencil strokes really carefully, studying the way the fur curls and the darkness of the shadows. Fingers crossed that it will at least be a little better than previous pictures!

Foxy lady

Another update on Honey, I did an hour or so on her this morning. Then as you can see I revamped my blog, I hope you like the new colour scheme. I had planned to draw again this afternoon but that idea came to nothing! I had a deadline to meet for getting my response to our National Park Authority's plan for the beautiful New Forest that I live on the edge of. As their plan includes restricting dog walkers, amongst many other undesirable things it was important that I laid my art aside for a few hours! Enough of that and back to Honey. I feel she is really beginning to take shape and even though I can see there are areas I should have done differently I am quite pleased. The colour on the lower half of her face is much more realistic but I can't remember exactly which colours I used - I really must write these things down in a little black book, vbg. So here is Honey - stage four.

More on Honey

A beautiful bright November morning gave me a couple of hours to do some more work on Honey. The sun streams through the windows in the morning so it's pleasant to sit and draw. Here's the latest scan, I'm still struggling with her fur!

Slow progress

I have spent quite a bit of time on Honey today, without much progress. First I made slight adjustment to the fur to the right of her left ear (as you look at her). I knew from Tuesday's scan that it wasn't right, it's funny how scanning it and looking at the picture on the pc can show up the mistakes that I can't see when it's right in front of me. I really struggled with her eye, I started off with much too pale a colour, then of course because it's drafting film I couldn't get the layers to darken it. But I persevered and used the blending pencil and the result is just about ok. I'm still having problems with the fur colours and the fur direction, when I look closely at my reference pic I can see there are so many different colours and the hairs are changing direction here there and everywhere! - I need to be much more patient and precise to get it right - not something I'm good at, bg. Having said all that, I'm still fairly happy with my little vixen - here is stage two.

Foxy beginnings

Today I had a couple of free hours without a hovering husband, lol - that makes it sound as though he wanders around in mid air - but I'm sure you know what I mean. So I have begun my next cp project, one of the delightful foxes from the British Wildlife Centre - I think this one is Honey, the vixen. This piece is another on drafting film and once again I'm finding the colours very difficult to get right but other than that it's going quite well - though there's plenty of time for that to change! Here she is so far.

Scottish Wildcat ~ finished!

I can't believe how quickly I have finished this drawing. Ok, it's not anywhere near perfect - I really have to be more careful with my pencil strokes as I have tendency to work very fast - but on the whole I'm happy with it as my first piece after a long break. Drafting film is certainly interesting though I think it might work better for me on a subject with a smoother coat. I don't feel I've got the texture of her coat and without being able to layer I don't know how to achieve that. Anyway, enough waffle - here she is.