Illustration Friday's new theme is "Strong". I think my Cape Buffalo qualifies!

New Art Classes in November 2014

You can also read the details of my classes on the SAA website under "events": http://www.seacoastartist.org/events_classes_art.cfm

ANOTHER NEW ART CLASS FOR NOVEMBER 2014. LEARN TO DRAW

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT.

Illustration Friday theme is "Journey"

I drew this in pencil. An odd journey, don't you think? I'm a bit odd, being an artist an all ;)

Cape Buffalo Drawing

Here are a few steps in my new drawing of a Cape Buffalo and an Oxpecker bird. The first drawing shows how I get the entire basic shape of the animals down first and then I work on the eyes. If the eyes aren't right, the drawing will fail even is everything else is correct. I put together several photos in Photoshop to use for reference: adding the top of the horns which weren't on the original photo by dragging them from other photos, then adjusting the shape and angle so they looked right. Then I found several photos of oxpeckers and added the bird on his head.In the next shot you can see I have added much more detail to the center of his massive head!

This shot shows a closeup of the little Oxpecker.

"Do Not Disturb"

My two elephants drawing is finally complete and is hanging in a show at Seacoast Artist Association. I'm including some more of the steps I did before I got to the final piece. I used both graphite and charcoal, smudging along with a stump to keep my fingers off the piece. I did a lot of research before I settled on the background. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. All told, I probably spent over 20 hours on this piece. I'm including some detail shots also. Final size is about 8.75 x 11.75 inches on Canson paper. My title is "Do Not disturb" because I believe all animals deserve dignity and to be left alone in areas where they can thrive. I want my great great great grandchildren to still be able to appreciate their beauty and dignity when they grow up.

When I start a drawing, I look closely at what to leave in and what to take out, what changes to make overall to the composition and how to make it more unique. I love working on the animals eyes and usually change them somewhat. With these guys, they were just big black dots so I added in detail after researching close-ups of elephant eyes. Google makes it so much easier to find reference material. Never just settle on the photo you have in front of you. Make it your own. You'll be happier with the results.

So I start my drawing laying out the large shapes and outlines of the animal in pencil, turning my paper around several time as I go to be sure I have the positive and negative shapes correct. Then I usually start on the eyes and then start adding light details, which I will later build up in layers. I have my trusty gummed eraser in case I get too dark or want to bring out some highlights. It's all very relaxing and meditative, no matter how many times I draw. I just love it. Time flies by and I loose all sense of time. Enjoy!

More on my elephants

I'm plodding along on my elephants, depending on the weather and how busy my graphic design studio is. I'd really like a good 5 or 6 hours to work just on this!!!

My Dad has been up for the month visiting us kids (six kids in all!) and the weather has been close to 100. It's finally cooling down this week. so I hope to get back to this for a bit!

Elephants in graphite and charcoal

version 1

version 2

I've been fooling around in graphite and charcoal for a month or so and started this portrait of two elephants. It's going slow, slower than I thought. Their skin is so complex! I started with pencil and now I'm adding charcoal to get the tone right. Lots of blending with a stump as I go along, and removing highlights with a kneaded eraser. I'll keep posting as I go along.

version 3