Self Portrait in Profile

What do you do when you are lacking models to draw...? Step up to the plate, be your own model, and draw yourself! I know, it doesn't meet the criteria for the busier composition that I had been wanting to do, but I was anxious to try another human portrait and in profile. The picture I took of myself was not by any means that clear but good enough to draw from. So unfortunately ;) , all those laugh lines and wrinkles didn't show up in the enlargement. Oh Darn! And let me say, those bangs hide a lot too!!

The thought of a self portrait can be rather daunting to think about. Oddly enough though, once this was started, I ceased to think about the subject being me. I started to see characteristics of my sisters and parents showing up. How often really does one study their own features section by section? I find myself constantly checking my sketch to the photo. There was a little fear that subconsciously I might do a little altering! But so far everything is checking out. That is the beauty of a graph. Just as a side note: I did transfer the graph, as you can see in the picture, and I find myself erasing large areas and not needing it. This could be due to the smaller size of the portrait which is 8x8".

So far, it has been really fun to build up the values. It is such a surprise when I hit that magical moment when a feature pops out from the Bristol. I never thought working on humans could or would be fun. My gratitude will always go to Lee Hammond for pushing me into purchasing Bristol board and blending my values. That bit of knowledge has opened a whole new area of art to me. I will be eternally grateful!

Otter Finished

 Here he is finished! The darks might get worked on more later. For right now, I decided to take the edging tape off. It worries me that it might start to adhere to the paper to well and cause some damage. I will just put some new tape on later if needed. It is always fun to pull the tape away and see the nice clean edges to a drawing. The color of the tape being lifted out of the picture makes the graphite take on another dimension.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Scott Liddell for a wonderful reference photograph. He is a very accomplished photographer and is generous enough to share his talent with the artistic community. I try to work from my own photos but could not pass up the opportunity to draw this little guy. You can check out Scott's photography at http://www.scottliddell.net/ and from there you can check out his blog also! So thanks again!!

Tonight will be spent picking out a new composition. I am not sure which direction to go next. A busier composition would be nice...or something on a bit larger scale...I have a feeling it is going to be a late night filled with contemplation!!!

Otter Cont. 2

Getting a little bit farther on the otter. Other commitments have been making progress on this one slow to a crawl. So with the luxury of free time this morning, I dove in determined to get his face pulled together!! The background should go relatively fast, since it is very muted, then his whiskers can be put in. I am happy with the progress to date, but the dark values are not close to where they need to be. There will be a lot of 9b involved before this one is finished!

Otter Cont.

Here is the progress on the otter head study. As you can see, I am staying on course for going right to left with this one. The background of the fur may need a little more 'fading out', due to its strong organic shapes. This is caused from the otter being wet in the picture. The clumpy hair, which was out of focus in the distance, took on a pattern all its own. Value wise, I would say that area is spot on, but I will have to see if it draws to much attention after the drawing is complete. The face hair and whiskers will be more sharp and in focus which should make them a good balance to the background fur. Only time will tell!

Sunshine Award

Thank you to Mariska for giving me the honor of the Sunshine Award. I really appreciate it :) ! I know I am suppose to list those that I think should receive it next. Instead, I would like to follow Gary Keimig's lead by sharing this award with all that follow my blog and those bloggers that I love to go and visit!! There is some inspiring and talented artists out in the blogosphere, and I would be so much less of an artist if not for them... So thanks again to Mariska (one of those super talented artists) and you can check her out at her blog http://mariskasthings.blogspot.com/ .

I must say, it is nice to see a little color on this blog isn't it ;) !?!

Otter Drawing

The next drawing on the board is a head study of an otter. The finish size will be 8 x 5 1/4". I am trying out working from left to right on this one. It was very tempting to do the background first, but so far I am sticking to plan. His head (which is probably hard to see in the sketch) is in the center of the drawing and is the only thing in true focus. He has some wonderfully long whiskers that should be fun. There is not a lot of details to this one, because it is a pretty dark valued photo reference. I was really drawn to the photo though and will stay loyal to the values in it. This drawing will be a good lesson in getting my graphite to go as dark as it possibly can.

Gorilla Study Finished

Well the Gorilla is finished. I had thought about putting some blurred out bamboo in the background, but it is a rather striking pose with just the foggy graphite. It will stay on the board for awhile until I am sure. The hair was time consuming and made me glad that this was in a small format. It was fun to draw the facial features with the high contrast in values. I used my usual 2b mechanical pencil but had to bring in a 9b for the really dark areas. This drawing was not as busy as some of my compositions, but I think he is pretty strong all on his own.

The next drawing is a head shot of an otter. I did the line drawing while working on this piece. It will be simple in its composition. I think sometimes one can study an animal better without all the noise of a background. The overlapping piece will probably go back to something a little more complicated. I might have to corner a human subject this time. We'll have to see!!