Double Yorkie Portrait ~ Finished

Here they are finished and ready to be matted!   (As with all my pics, you can click on the image to enlarge them.)   I opted to go with a blank background that dealt only with the light source and shadows that were created.  Shadows add so much to the dimension of a drawing.  I just love the impact that they have on pushing the subjects forward.

Although this is a terribly bright photo, I had to take a quick pic of these two that I matted for the purpose of protection on their travels home.   I am in love with black core mats.  Bristol, although very light, is far from being white.  The black core of the mat brightens up the Bristol by kicking up the highlights and bringing out the darks. 

Well, "graphite" Bella and Chester are in their new home now and are awaiting the moment to be given as a birthday present.  It almost seems like stillness has fallen over my house, since the excitement of final touch ups and delivery are over.  I took a moment before writing this entry and read back through the posts on the creation of these two.   I laugh at how much was happening in my life while this commission was taking shape.  It has been quite a journey... :) 

Double Yorkie Portrait 9

Ready for the background.  As you can see, Chester is a handsome little dude all blended and highlighted. :)  His dark eyes and muzzle stand out well next to Bella's long hair.  I hoped his strong features would be his strength in the drawing.   Both Yorkies complement each other well with their unique looks.  I love Chester's wide eyed look, and  Bella will get some more dimension to her once the background goes in and stray hairs are put in place. 

So much time gets spent looking at these little fur balls and studying their faces.  I really feel that I know them.  I am a firm believer that every animal is as unique as we are as humans, pertaining to looks as well as personalities.   It is fun to walk into the back door of my studio area and be greeted by these sweet faces.  I feel that I am lucky to get to work with so many different subjects and be able to live with their presence in my home if only for a while.  Makes me feel like I have more pets in my life.  I'm sure that my little black monster (aka Mew) likes it that way, since she doesn't have to share her kibble or comfy pillow with these "graphite" pets! ;)

Double Yorkie Portrait 8

Just thought I'd let you catch a glimpse of Chester in the rough stage! ;)

Double Yorkie Portrait 6

Ouch!  It's been a while.  No, I haven't fizzled out on this. ;)   Just got a little side tracked by the busy weekends of August... spending time at the flea markets and had a park days celebration in our small town.  My son brought out his Minneapolis Molines for the town tractor pull.  He won 3 first place pulls and 2 seconds.  How exciting is that???   And in front of the hometown crowd.  I was very happy for him and my hubby aka "the pit crew/chief mechanic". ;)  The local volunteer fire department hosts the event, and they barbecue 1/2 chicken dinners and deliver them to the pull.  Nothing like carry out to make a girl happy!!  It made for a wonderful weekend with the most beautiful weather.

As you can see, I have begun Chester.  The top portion of his head has been blended, highlighted, and darkened.  The side of his face is at the mapping stage right now.  I have gotten quite a bit farther tonight with the mapping, but the light isn't good enough for another pic.  I am anxious to get to his eyes and muzzle area.  They are surrounded by some interesting dark hair that gives so much character to his face.  His chin hairs are more reminiscent of his daughters locks and should tie him into her nicely.  The area of the forehead and ears is smooth and lacking definition, so most of the details will present themselves around the eyes and below.   I will be off from work for a couple of days this week, so I hope to make the same progress on him as I did on his daughter, Bella.   

Double Yorkie Portrait 5

Click to Enlarge

 



Can you believe it?  Three days and I am already doing an update. :)  Time off from work translates into more time at the drawing board.  Well, I promised that this little girl, who happens to be named Bella, would at least be blended.  But I am happy to report, she is pretty much finished.  Her highlights are in with the shadows darkened.  Her fur is good to go until the minor touch ups at the end of the drawing process.

Now I will move on to the second Yorkshire Terrier that happens to be her Dad.  His name is Winchester  aka Chester for short.  His hair has a more defined edge and is very blended.  I am going out on a  limb and say that he should go a little faster than his daughter.  Yep I know, it wouldn't be the first time I was wrong! LOL 

Double Yorkie Portrait 4

I can read your mind... "When are you going to start blending Brenda?"  Sorry, it should have been done before now, but I couldn't help myself.  One hair led into another and then another.  I took this photo and was determined to start blending afterward but found myself mapping in her chin hairs.  Obsessive, I know!  The mapping process leaves the subject in such a mottled state.  So I will promise that the next update will have her looking more natural.  Blending stumps on the way!  

Double Yorkie Portrait 3

Back from vacation and ready to work.  As some of my followers know, I take vacation and attend the hunt on the 127 Corridor Yard Sale.  It is 654 miles of flea markets and yard sales from the bottom of Michigan to the top of Alabama.  It has been a very hot and fun vacation.  Probably the hottest one that we have attended in a long time.  We decided to start this year in Ohio and cut through Chicago on our way there.  My son has not been to the windy city, so it was fun to share that moment with him.  I will never tire of the hazy first glimpses of the Chicago skyline.  *sigh*  

I put in some time this morning on the portrait of the Yorkies (between unloading the vehicle and switching laundry ;) ) and am getting ready to create the second eye.  Yes, this is not a huge update, but I just wanted to let you know that I am still alive here! ;)  This vacation stuff does demand a lot of time from me, but now it is back to creating... :)

Double Yorkie Portrait 2

It has been a crazy weekend with a county fair and tractor pull thrown in, but I managed to get some work done on one of the Yorkies today.  She will definitely need a little reworking as the rest of her comes into view, but I am hoping that the darker values around her muzzle will set her off.  (They both have very light hair.)  The shadows are just a little hard to finish at this point without the darkest values to compare to.   This little one has hair going in every direction... No dull moments here!   In all honesty though,  I find it relaxing to be working at long hair again.  I hope the feeling lasts! ;)

Double Yorkie Portrait Cont.



Severe weather has gotten the best of me this week. Happily, I can report that our town now has electricity and cable/Internet restored after a 4 day hiatus. My home was lucky to not be out of power as long as some of our other residents, but the Internet was out for a good part of the week.  Not that it mattered much to me, since I was busy dragging and chipping brush for our tree business. With the tree work caught up and major heat in the forecast, I was more than content with taking this afternoon to dive into the double portrait of the two Yorkies.

As you can see, they are transferred to the Bristol board. The background will be left out for now, since it is not going to get the one in the photograph. My brain wanted me to start with the Yorkie on the right in the worst way. Please don't ask me why for I will never know the reason.  At any rate, common sense won out in the end, and I held strong to the laws of smearing and began with the little girl on the left. ;) She is mapped in as far as I would like her to be before the blending step. The edges of the fur will be rough until the background makes an appearance.

For anyone who might notice, my usual tape around the edges of my drawing is not present. There is a long story that surrounds its absence, but the short version is that the Turtle drawing had damage from the tape. It was not a malfunction of the tape, but the idiot that applied the tape. I used a colored ruler in the application of my graph that left a few marks on my paper. I attempted to erase these marks... lazily went ahead and used the paper instead of transferring the sketch to a new sheet of Bristol (Hence, the whole reason why I begin my sketches on transfer paper. Duh!)... applied the tape... took forever to complete the drawing... and the tape adhered to the areas damaged by the eraser. Aaargh! To make a long story short -- too late. ;) I am not at all worried that this will happen again, but I am erring on the side of caution. This is a commission, and I will tape the drawing at the point when the background goes in.  Enough said on that sticky situation...

Double Yorkie Portrait

As I mentioned in the post before, the next drawing is a consignment drawing of two Yorkshire Terriers.  The photo I had to work with showed both of the dogs being held onto.  I tossed around doing a bust of the two dogs but am not a fan of their bodies being drawn in separate areas of the paper and  fading into nothingness.  So, I played around on the computer and created a crop that is more true to my style.   The photo is pretty small, so I am using a little larger grid to sketch my line drawing on.  The background is going  to be removed and turned into a blur of shadows.

I was pretty happy with the crop of these two little sweeties, once they were printed out.   Well... I guess it would be more accurate to say, once they were printed out for the fourth time!  Have you ever had one of those days?  My printer is a Canon MP 560.  Although their has been much talk of Canons consuming ink, I really do love this printer.  It has separate ink tanks, and I keep printing even if the computer says to replace a particular tank.  (I have counted and printed 10 extra 8 x 10's the last time by doing that!)  Whatever gives the "ink replacement" warning is way ahead of the ink really running out, which is amazingly wasteful.  Anyways, my black ink was low, and my photo came out lacking that value.  Okay, I expected this eventually.  So, I pop in another sheet of photo paper and a black ink cartridge and start the process again.  Still no black.  What?  I ran a third attempt.  (Don't ask me why I would even do that.  My life mimics the saying that "Haste makes Waste."  Ugh!!)   After that failed attempt, the light went on above my head... clogged printer nozzle.  Duh!  This is the first time that has happened with this printer, which I must add is amazing for how little it is used.  Anyways, successful fourth print...  Yay!

As you can see by the line drawing, one of these little pups has a short and amazingly chiseled hair cut, while the other one is sporting "the Rachel"  made popular by Jennifer Aniston during the early days of Friends. LOL  (Love the cut, and the Yorkie breed  pulls it off so well!)  Let me also add... It is a sad day when your subjects have better hair cuts than your own, and they happen to be canines to boot! LOL  ;)   Back to my point, the contrast in hair styles, along with difference in the size of their heads, will lend itself well to this composition.  The finished size of this piece will be 6 1/4 x 10 1/2 inches.   The crop will make them appear to be looking out of the drawing, which may be a little bit of a twist on the conventional portrait, but sometimes it is nice to be unconventional right?  ;) 

Ooops... I have to add...

Happy 4th of July Everyone!!  :)  

Yorkshire Terrier Finished

I am proud to announce that this little girl is finished.  My poor 9b pencil is half the size that it started out as.  It kept shrinking layer after layer. ;)  The real payoff was when the tape came off.  I love the crisp lines.  This was the first time that I have had a black background.  I found it to be very messy.  The drafting tape is priceless in keeping the edge sharp and providing a white area around the drawing.  When cleaning up the white border beyond the tape, I picked up the wrong eraser and created a smudge. :(   Although it lightened up considerably, the tape has made enough of a border to mat around the drawing.  *whew* 

I will leave this little girl on the board for a few days before considering her finished.  My next pic is ready to be put into a line drawing, and there will not be any fur on this one! ;)  Just taking a little break to practice some hands again.

Drawing of a Yorkie 5

 Here is a quick update.  I have blended out the hair and eye and have pulled some highlights.  The leg to the right will get some darkening, but I want to see the background around it first.  The fur on that leg is considerably lighter than the one to the left.  There are a lot of stray hairs to be put in, but they will not all make it into the drawing.  I think it would look very "fly away" .  The dark background has been started Ugh! and will need to be gone over several times.  Below the paws there will be some nice reflections from the lighting to break up the monotony of the black.  I would love to see this one finished by the end of the month.   I promised myself the next subject will not require any fur!  ;)

Drawing of a Yorkie 4

What a week!  I started back to one of my part time jobs after a winter hiatus and am trying to get use to a packed schedule.  The first week is always the toughest.  I am looking forward to settling into a more calmer second week and getting a more set schedule for all my artwork. ;) 

As you can see, the rest of this little dog is mapped in.  My main problem with this drawing is seeing my photo reference through my Mylar cover.  This image is so dark that working under my lamp at night (which is my favorite time to draw) is almost unbearable to my eyes.  Since she is all mapped in, with the exception of the reflections and slight hints of fur in the background, I will pull the Mylar and work straight from the image.  Yay! :)   

This is a little off the subject of dogs, but...  I have made reference on my other blog about the wonders of YouTube.  As my younger sister can attest to, I was not interested in that site in the least for years.  I thought it was simply a site mainly attributed to music.  Although I have found back some cool old music videos from the past! ;)   But it is also a wealth of informative videos that some wonderfully talented people share with the world.  I cannot remember what I was searching for, but I stumbled across a brilliant Russian artist by the name of Igor Kazarin.  He works with oil paint in the dry brush technique.  This interested me, since I love to create my acrylic work with a dry brush.  This gentleman is so extremely talented. Lucky for him that I cannot hop into my car and spend my weekends looking over his shoulder!  He has many spectacular works, but please click on the link here and check out his amazing painting of Johnny Depp.  The music is awesome, the time lapse video rocks, and the talent keeps me awe struck every time I watch it.  It also lists his other equally outstanding works which are in black and white and color.  Just click on them and sit back to enjoy the show.  He also has a website that you can visit here .  If I need inspiration or am not sure if I want to put some time in on my own work, I take the 5 minutes to watch one of his videos and my world is full of the desire to perfect my own skills.  I cannot say enough how grateful that I am for him sharing of his talents.   If any of my followers have a favorite artist on YouTube, let me know.  I would love to find more talented artists to view.  My search on YouTube has only just begun! :)

Drawing of a Yorkie 3

The darks are going to have to get a whole lot darker, but here is where this little girl is at tonight.  My 9b pencil is starting to get some use.  I broke down and put in a few of the stray hairs to the top left.  I finally have a glimpse of what the finished piece will look like.  That is always a good shot in the arm for that last push in a drawing.  Plus, I love to create eyes, and it will be nice to see her's complete. :)  

Drawing of a Yorkie 2

This little guy is extremely difficult to photograph.  Aaaargh!   I finally just decided to not try and get a close up.  As you can see, I did not put in the background yet and am going to try and push through the majority of the dog first.  The hair from the earlier post is all complete, and the face is now starting to be mapped in.  The light source hits her forehead and  the unfinished side of the face and will make for some nice highlights.  I love doing highlights and am glad that most of the dark areas are finished.  The bottom hair of the muzzle looks a little scary right now, but in the finished work, they will be barely noticeable in the dark shadows.

The background will be what pulls this piece together in the end.  There are quite a few areas of hair on the outskirts of the coat that will be like the muzzle and be very slight in appearance.  I am worried that the 9b Prismacolor graphite will not achieve a smooth flat dark background  in such a large area.  So, I did order some Derwent Onyx Dark pencils from Dick Blick that I might try out on this piece, if I feel the 9b falls short.  * Rant Alert! :) *  Well... actually, Blick had to special order them, since they do not carry them, and I cannot find a dealer around here in the U.S..  They are one company that I cannot say enough good things about.   If you've never been to their site, I highly recommend you check them out at http://www.dickblick.com/ .  It doesn't happen often, but if they do not have an item that you want in their catalog, they will do their best to try and locate it for you.  They are just outstanding from the initial order all the way through to delivery, and the best at answering annoying questions from confused artists! ;)

Drawing of Yorkie Continued

How is this for being caught up in the uglier stage of a drawing?  ;)  Instead of showing you a clean section of a drawing in progress, I thought that I would show the messier stage of development.  The tuft of hair at the top is the closest to completed part of this drawing.  As you follow down the side, the hair is in varying degrees of being rendered.  Usually, I tend to do smaller areas at a time and take them to completion, but I got a little ahead of myself on this one.  So... I went back up to the top of  the hair to blend and highlight and am currently working the side of the face.  The dark background at this point is just hinted to along the sides of the hair.   It is very tempting to put in the background before going further.  This is something that I normally do not do, but the darkness of the photo reference versus the whiteness of the paper is making me distracted.   I am not sure what to do there yet.   It is frustrating to not be able to put in the highlighted stray hairs, but they really have to wait until the end of the drawing process.   I hope to have something a little more pleasant for the eyes to view in the next post... :)  

Drawing of a Yorkshire Terrier

Isn't this such a cute little dog to start on Valentine's Day?  (Of course, it would have a whole lot more appeal if it was finished!)    The size of this piece will be 6 1/4 x 9 3/4 inches.  This drawing will differ from the others due to the fact that it will have a black background, and a lot of the dog's body fades into the darkness.  This effect illuminates the subject in such a serene way.   I originally had another Yorkie pic ready to go, but I stumbled across this one and fell in love.  It even bumped the other photo out of the running for being the next piece.  I look forward to the challenge of recreating the photographer's beautiful representation of this breed.  :)