Grizzly

As good as finished, maybe a little tweeking here and there, but it's so easy to over do it. I added the mountain and trees in the background to try and give a feeling of depth, they were not in my original idea, but it seemed that there was something missing and to much sky. still not happy with the way I have drawn the grass, but I hope to get that sorted when I attend Mike Sibley's workshop in May. comments welcome as always

My First Drawing

I found this drawing within the pages of a baby record book my mother kept. she very kindly placed my age on the bottom right hand corner, 3.5 years old! so its now 48.5 years old can anyone beat this do you still have your first drawing? I like the way I thought there would be air craft flying around at the same time as the cowboys.

Grizzly WIP

As the snow made it impossible to go out today, I started to work on the background, I hope when it's finished it will give the impression of the Grizzly walking along a mountain pathway, as usual the photographed image hasn't come out as well as the drawing, with any luck I may have this finished by tomorrow, the completed drawing will measure approx 6.5 x 4 inches, all comments welcome.

Grizzly WIP

Worked on the grass today using my Bible '' Drawing from Line to Life'' by Mike Sibley, isn't it annoying how some people can make things sound and look so easy to achieve until you try to put it into practice! thanks Mike I'll see you in May......

Grizzly WIP

A little more work completed today, not to happy with how the grass is working out, so will need to concentrate on that next time.

Grizzly Bear WIP

Iv'e been working a little on the detail, so thought I would post a close up, this detail doesn't show on the photograph I'm working from so I used a bit of imagination and guess work, I have lifted a lot of the dark areas with use of Blue Tack and then reworked that area of the fur, Iv'e also tried to define the grass's with negative drawing. any comments welcome.

New WIP

Started this new piece today, no title as yet, we dont have many Grizzly Bears in Nottingham so no local referance material to work from, I have included a shot of my drawing board as you can see Im working from a colour and a grey scale pic, printed from the computer neither are very sharp, but these things are sent to try us!

Chimp Finished

Almost didn't post this finished drawing, as I'm not happy with the results, but it's all experiance I suppose! the background didn't work out as I wanted, but I have to keep reminding myself that this is only my second drawing with CP's, size is 5.5 x 3.5 inches, so here it is and any comments, good or bad are welcome.

Chimp WIP

As you can see I have started on the background! and its making me realise just how much I need to learn about colour pencils, I want the background to be out of focus to push the chimp forward, apparently this is difficult to achieve with CP's ''Now you tell me'' I have also started to fill in the foreground twig and leaves which I want to be in focus as they are level with the Chimps face. On the good side I have found that the Blue Tack I use on my graphite drawing works to a degree on the CP's, this has been a great help on lifting the leaves and creating a few highlights. any comments and advice welcome.

Chimp WIP

A little more work has been achieved on this Chimp, Iv'e started on the background which I want to draw out of focus, easier said than done! I still have a lot to learn on how to apply the layers to get the effect I want, but practice makes perfect as they say.....

Chimp WIP

Ive been away working for the last three days so unable to post anything, I thought I would post a new WIP, as you can see Im trying the coloured pencils again, Im sure the more I use them the closer I will get to the effect I want.

Orangutan finished

For my first attempt with coloured pencils, I'm reasonably pleased with this little drawing 4x3 inches, hopefully the next one will be better as I learn from the mistakes made with this. The one thing I'm not happy with is the paper, I was told it was for coloured pencils but as your layering the colour on it tends to fluff up so it's back to the Bristol board for the next one.

Orangutan day 2

A little more progress today, as you can see I've been working on the face and hands and a little on the body, the hands were a big problem having not drawn them before, they need a little more work but I don't want to over draw them. I hope to finish and update my blog tomorrow.

A New Direction

I recently treated myself to a set of Derwent Artist Coloured Pencils, I just fancied bringing a little bit of colour into my drawings, my first love will still be graphite, but sometimes you need a change. I don't have a clue how to use them so I am just approaching the drawing as I would a graphite one, I am posting the first days work, and hope to post more tomorrow.

Waiting for the Tide

Drawn from a photograph taken at Christmas whilst visiting my sister and family on the Island of Jersey, due to the tide being out I was able to walk around the harbour and snap a few of these little fishing boats, size is approx 3x8 inches, drawn on Bristol board using a 2h and 2b clutch pencil. hope you like it....

Ragdoll Cat

This Cat belongs to a couple of friends of mine, I found the image on a memory card they gave me which was for a new camera I aquired at Christmas, I tried to make the fur as realistic as possible, which didn't really work out, but as a first attempt on a domestic cat, its not to far off and gives me a point to aim at and improve on.

Cub of the hill

This little drawing of a lion cub was started and finished in a day, size ia approx 4x3 inches on Bristol board, I hope to be drawing a few more of these as my sister has just returned from a safari and with any luck will have taken some great photo's..

The Last Post!!

This little Blue Tit seems to have taken forever, I started about two days before Xmas and finished this morning 10 days! the bird was straight forward but the post with the grain has taken almost 8 days, hence the title, as it may be some time before I draw another one. Image size is approx 4x3 inches, drawn on Bristol Board using a 2h and 2b clutch pencil.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone who should read this blog.
Lets hope that 2009 isn't as bad as they say it will be, and if it is remember there are more important things than the size of your bank balance, so instead of wishing my family, friends and any readers of this blog a prosperous 2009 I wish them all a very very healthy New Year......

Robin

After not picking up a pencil for two weeks, I thought it was time to get back into the drawing habit, As we attract a lot of Robins into our garden I thought I would give one a try, total drawing time was around 6 hours, drawn on bristol board using a 2H HB and 2B clutch pencil, image size is approx 3x2 inches, reproduction has let the image down again giving the white paper background a grey look.