Hamster Drawing Cont.

Here is the next installment in the continuing saga of Dani the hamster. This little guy ended up giving me more of a problem than what I bargained for. (Even worse than the night he escaped from his cage and decided to give us a 2:00 in the morning wake up call!) He is a black hamster, and although nothing is a solid color in this world of shadows; I forgot how to translate that to paper. As I stated in the profile, it has been a long time since I have done fine art! It is one thing to map the shadows, but it is another thing to make them spring off the page. That combined with the small size of the subject (way out of my comfort zone!) drove me to pace for hours. A great thanks to the creators of the kneaded and vinyl erasers. With their help I started to pull graphite giving those little light and medium light (ever so tiny!) hairs a chance to emerge. But the moment I started to breathe easier was when I went back in with the mechanical pencil and started to darken patches of hair and put in fine points to their ends. That's the moment when Dani's fur started to have depth. I knew then I was back in the game!

Of course this brings up a new point to ponder with regards to the black fur. Why do we choose the pets we have? Is it a subconscious choice that I have had pets that aren't colorful (in regards to fur only)? I don't know :) ! This made me do an assessment on the subject. At different times in the last 20 years I have had: 2 black cats, 1 gray cat, 4 gray birds (they had gray babies), 1 gray rabbit, 1 black dog ( she had 6 black puppies 2 cinnamon), and 2 white carrucos (which were oddly enough black and looked like tiny beavers. They had 2 tiny black babies. Please don't ask if I spelt their name right!). We have tended for a short time to wild squirrels and raccoons in shades of gray. Okay, one squirrel had a red belly! The only thing with color is my lovebird, who came to us with his brother who has since passed (which I am beginning to wonder was from boredom due to the color shortage in my house!). They were and are little rainbows of color. Even the last two vehicles I owned were black! Maybe, I am on to something here. I am now committed to sharpening my graphite skills and then moving on to some form of colored pencil. I must break the cycle!LOL

Okay, Okay, back to the subject at hand. I have not drawn the whiskers on Dani or the edge fur until I commit to a definite background. My photo reference has a very dark background that is muted. I like that idea for the bottom of the drawing to enhance the hands but may alter the top and make that more in a mid tone range. I want the hamster to spring off the page, too. Well, better get back to the drawing board for now...