Cat ATC

My cat ATC finished. 'Rigsby' is for a private trade with a fellow artist and Flickr friend who is doing me a barn owl based on Soren, one of the owls in the Ga'hoole fantasy series. I've actually seen my barn owl already - he is beautiful and I will be delighted to have him as my first ATC.
Rigsby is on Clairefontaine Pastelmat in Faber Castell Polychromos and Prismacolors, 2.5"x3.5"

Cat ATC wip

My first attempt at an ATC (Artists Trading Card) for a swap with an artist friend in America who is doing me a lovely barn owl based on the owl Soren from the Ga'hoole fantasy series. ATCs must be 2.5" x 3.5" and it is really hard for me to get the detail I like in such a small size, even using my optivisor. Quite a lot more work needed on this one to build colour to get some depth - though I'm reasonably happy with her eyes. It is on Clairefontaine Pastelmat and I'm using various coloured pencils, but mainly FC Polychromos and a few Prismacolors.

amur leopard with a little more work

After some constructive criticism from my cp group the leopard went back on the drawing board. I've made a few small adjustments over the last few days and hope there is an improvement.

Now to decide on my next piece - I have two or three in mind.

completed amur leopard

I've spent a few hours today completing this picture. As I thought, not happy with the final result but there are things I like about it. Her eyes and nose!
I have booked myself a place on a two hour workshop in a couple of weeks time, I am hoping for some useful hints and tips. I would love to know how best to render fur!
I haven't decided on my next piece, but I don't think I'll use the pastelmat.

More on the Amur

I didn't get any colour suggestions yet so decided to get reckless and wade in anyway. I've added some Derwent Studios and FC Polychromos to the mix, I couldn't get what I wanted from the Prismacolors.

When I began drawing I thought that eyes / noses / mouths were the hardest, now however I think it's fur! This is because when I started my fur looked so unrealistic. It isn't much better now - but at least I know that, lol. Still lots to do on this leopard, I do think she is progressing reasonably well but I already know I'm not going to be satisfied with the finished picture. Working on a piece this small has been really difficult for me - how artists do miniatures and get amazing detail I have no idea! Part of the problem I think is the surface, I'm almost certain that I won't used the pastelmat for coloured pencils again (I prefer a smoother surface) but will try it for pastels at some point. But probably with my vision difficulties I will be better sticking to larger pictures, easier for me to see what I'm doing though of course things will take longer to complete, which I find frustrating. Patience, patience........

Colour choices

I've having trouble with colour choices - I usually do! I have asked for some advice in my cp group and will wait to see what suggestions they have before I continue. I know that I don't 'see' things as an artist should, but I am trying hard to really study colour and form. I guess that after a full year away from drawing I must expect to be almost back to square one, and actually it's not as bad as it could be, *smile*.

Of the work I did today, most is ok, but the neck fur needs some work! I was trying for a softer looking fur and tomorrow I will try using either a stump or just a scrunched up tissue to blend the colours more so the lines aren't as obvious. At the bottom left of the picture, what I thought was dark fur, is actually part of the background - I have darkened all the background area in that spot to cover up this mistake!

Difficulties........

..........with the bridge of her nose. This is the fur I find hardest to get right, it's short, slightly bristly and I have no idea how to create that effect with the pencils. Oh for some proper lessons.

As always when I'm having trouble I moved on and began putting down colour for the dark 'spots' in her fur. Yes, I know that yesterday I said it would be the lighter fur but somehow it just seems best to do it this way. At least I think she is now beginning to look like a leopard.

I was reading the site of cp artist Christina Langman at Big Cat Art yesterday, she has some amazing big cat portraits and a superb tutorial -parts of which I am using to get help with this piece but the tutorial uses a smooth paper so it isn't ideal - but for my next piece I think it will be invaluable. One of the big cat portraits took her 400 hours to complete!! Such patience and dedication. I should have a mantra and repeat it night and morning, "I must take my time, I must slow down", lol. And on another blog I read an old post which is also relevant for me. I easily get disheartened and think my work is rubbish and that I will never improve. This blog post said that natural talent, while useful, is NOT the most important thing - hard work, dedication, practise, practise and more practise is what counts. I'm encouraged by the thought that if I do that, I will improve. So no more self pitying, "I can't", I must go back to my Learning to Draw book and work through the exercises from the beginning again. Enough rambling, hopefully back tomorrow.

slow progress

Instead of racing along I am trying very hard to take this one slowly. My biggest fault when drawing is rushing and wanting to see the piece finished.
Here I have done a lot more layers on the eyes and most of the work on the nose. Unfortunately my initial line drawing has all but disappeared, I don't really know why as it didn't happen with the little cat drawing. In an effort to add back some of the lines I have managed to get a dent in the surface. Whether it will notice on the finished piece I don't know. This is all trial and error!
My next step is to start on the lighter coloured fur. I'm still undecided whether to put all the light in and then add the dark, or do it all as I go and work from top left to bottom right. Watch this space!

amur leopard

Striking while the iron is hot I have made a start on my next picture. This Amur Leopard is from a photograph I took at Marwell Zoo during 2009. I was lucky enough to be able to zoom in on her face and avoid the wire fencing. This is again on Clairefontaine pastelmat but I'm using my favourite Prismacolor pencils. It is the smallest piece I've done, being just 7" x 5". The eyes already have a few very light layers but still a long way to go. I upped the contrast a little after scanning in the hope that you would be able to see the outline but it is very faint. It is the right way up though, in case you were wondering - the leopard was lying on her side.

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.

Christmas Robin

A success story this is not! I was reasonably happy until I started the background and then things started to go wrong. My plan was to use a Derwent studio pencil and smooth out the colour with a tissue - it is a technique I've use before with good results but this time it wasn't working. I resorted to using a watercolour pencil and blending the colour with damp cotton wool, scary getting the drawing damp! At least it has rescued it from going in the bin.

Back to my robin

As some of you will remember, back in January I began a drawing of a robin, which I've dug out, dusted off and restarted work on. I actually got on quite well yesterday afternoon and the robin is complete. However I'm now going to attempt to add a tree stump from a different reference photo and a soft background. I hope it works and that I don't ruin the whole thing, I want this for one of my Christmas cards this year and I also hope to put it in my cp group's Christmas theme. If you want to see the other works in progress for this piece look in January.

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!