This Little Wonder 6

My little baby chick is here. (Wasn't he so small? Ah, sweet memories!) It seems to have been a mistake on my part to render this little guy after the hands. It was a bear not to smear my work that was already completed. I had to tape paper over the right part of the hand, which is a quick fix but still can shift slightly. So, it was a constant battle to remember to keep lifting my hand when moving to other areas. I could have used a bridge, and actually did use my other hand as a support when doing the chicks feet, but do not like the distance from my bridge to the paper. There is an easy solution to this problem and that is simply to do a little more planning before drawing!!

After smoothing in the chick, I darkened in some shadows along the outside of the down and feet. It helped to push his light colored body away from the skin tones. I noticed after the chick's down was to the correct values that the hands are a little pale in a few areas. So, they will be given a little more depth before the background is put in. This drawing has paid dearly for the lack of time spent at the drawing table. It will probably go down as one of my longest works in progress!

This Little Wonder 5

Here is a quick update. The watch band is completed, and the little chick is mapped in (except for his feet). That is the most graphite that will be added to him. He will get some blending and most of the defining details will be done with an eraser. The areas sketched in on him are his shadows, and the eraser will be used to draw in the actual fluffy down. I wanted to show the chick like this to illustrate that a little graphite goes a long way!

Look who came to dinner... This little guy showed up at my house in a cardboard box thanks to my darling son. You know him... the boy that was told no more pets. I was reminded that I only made reference to fish, chicks, dogs, cats, hamsters, birds, guinea pigs, and hermit crabs. In my ranting could you believe I left out rabbit? Leave it to him to attempt to find a loophole. That reminds me, I better make a note to tell him NO SNAKES!!

P.S. The breed of rabbit is called a lion head and let me add this little guy can eat and drink like a lion, too!

This Little Wonder 4

The lower hand is now complete, and the watch band is mapped out and ready to make its appearance. This will be followed by the little chick. The bottom hand was quite a struggle. The lighting of the pic made it a very odd shade (I work from color pics). Between light reflections and suntanned skin, it has been a journey. There will be lighter hairs that will be added later, along with a little evening of tones.

I do prefer to work from colored reference photos. I feel I achieve better shading... Maybe not text book method of shading in a sense, but intensity of shades as I see them. If you were to turn this one's reference pic into black and white, I doubt it would match up. I find black and white photos to be flat and 2 dimensional, which for some reason confuses my brain immensely. (And unfortunately, the work created translates as flat.) It is hard to explain... I guess I let my eye give certain colors their own value scale, and color transformed into graphite just seems to enrich my interpretation in the end result. (Or at least I hope so ;-) !) Or maybe this just translates into extra work, but the difference that I have seen in my finished work is night and day. I have never been accused of doing anything in my life in a conventional way!