Drawing with Blu Tac 2

Pic 3 show that all the far background has been darkened down with a number of layers of in this case a 7B pencil, once completed the fun begins...

Pic 4 shows how I shape the Blu Tac to a chisel point and in some cases I will roll into a point as sharp as a pencil for fine detail work and this also comes in useful for picking out highlights in eyes etc

Drawing with Blu Tac 3

Pic 5 I start to randomly remove the Graphite by pressing and dabbing the Blu Tac onto the dark area, at this stage I'm just trying to make marks that look in some way like leaves twigs and branches etc, I'm not to worried how accurate they are.

Pic 6 I start to add more points of interest little leaves etc, by rolling the Blu Tac into a point.

All of this takes time as every time you press the Blu Tac onto the paper the edge goes flat and is also covered with graphite, so a new edge has to be made after every mark is made ( hey no one said it was easy)

Drawing with Blu Tac 4

Pic 7, once I have the basic shape of the leaf or stem etc, I start to form it into the correct shape using the 7b pencil.

Pic 8, Once I'm happy with the shape I start to fill in a little detail and the darken it down, as remember this is in the far background, and in most cases in the shade

Drawing with Blu Tac 5

Pic 9 shows how things have taken shape, its taken a few hours to get to this stage, many parts have been darkened then lighted again until I'm happy with the effect, the further back they are the more I darken them down, its surprising how far you can take this, as long as they are lighter than the 7b background they will stand out and give the effect I want.

Pic 10 Shows that more detail has been added to the background leaves etc and also detail to the foreground stems, leaves etc this is now starting to give the 3d effect I'm after

Drawing with Blu Tac 6

Pic 11, shows a close up of the background area, as you can see by drawing a hole in one of the leaves and showing the stem through it helps to give that feeling of depth.

Pic 12 How this small area fits into the overall drawing, I hope this as all been of some interest as you can see there is a long way to go...

Robin Update

Now that the Robin is as good as completed, I've started on the background, I'm basically making this up as I go along, all this foliage will wrap itself around the gate post that the Robin is stood on, each leaf seems to be taking forever to do, but I'm in no rush, I hope to include a few insects onto the Bindweed as they develop. I have included a close up pic of the leaves etc, all of the stalks etc in the dark background have been drawn on a blacked out area using BlueTac.

Robin Update

Just a quick update, I'm not getting much time at the moment to work on this piece,but as you can see the Robin is now near enough complete, so onto the fore and background, Ill keep updating as I move towards completion...

Robin

As you can see I have started work on my new little bird, which this time is one of my favourites The Robin, I love these as they can become very tame and they will after a while feed out of your hands. this drawing will be larger than the previous ones with a little more background detail, As you can see I've post a pic of the original photograph I took about a month ago, I'll post more as it develops....

Goldcrest

Just finished this little Goldcrest perched on a wire fence, size 6x5 inches and drawn on Mellotex, the photo seems to have come out all grainy for some reason, sorry about that!

Nuthatch

This is the latest addition to my British Bird drawings, a little Nuthatch, measuring approx 5x7 inches, and drawn in Mellotex paper, hope you like him?

Greater Spotted Woodpecker

The latest addition to my British Bird drawings, this Woodpecker is starting to build a new home in what looks like a telegraph pole.... size around 8 x 4 inches, drawn on Mellotex paper.

Swift on Barbed Wire

Another drawing in my new series at trying to capture the beauty of British birds, this time it's a Swift perched on barbed wire, measuring 8 x 5 inches and drawn on Mellotex paper, drawing time approx 7 hours

Wren Completed

Finished this off tonight, long time since I drew a bird, think I might stick with them for a while, size is 3.5 x 4.5 inches, drawn on Mellotex

Wren WIP

I seem to have gone from one extreme to the other, after the Elephant drawing at 20x16 inches I'm now working on a little wren at around 4x3 inches, compared to the Elephant (which took around 45 hours) progress on this seems to be at warp speed.... this is where I'm at after just a couple of hours, hope to have this finished within the next couple of days.

Old Wrinkly Finished, Framed and at the Exhibition...

After almost 50 hours, Old Wrinkly is finished, it has also been framed and delivered to the exhibition, which opens on the 19th of June at the Nottingham Society of Artist Gallery, on Friar Lane Near Nottingham Castle. the actual Drawing is 16.5 x 20.5 inches, drawn as always on Mellotex paper, tools used where 2h, HB 2b, and 6b pencils, blending tool, eraser, and putty rubber for the highlights. it seem strange not to see this on my drawing board waiting to be worked on, but it was good to see it completed, oh well onto the next piece ( and I guarantee its going to be smaller)!

Old Wrinkly almost there!

As you can see I'm getting close to completion, just the ear to do and checking on all of the tones and detail etc on the trunk, this has to be at the framers early on Tuesday morning....

Old Wrinkly update

Thought I had better post an update. after around another twelve hours this is where I'm at, need to have this finished by Monday as it has to be mounted and framed by Tuesday night, this is so I can be entered into the Nottingham Society of Artist show at the end of June, closing date is the 16th so better get a move on....

Old Wrinkly update

As you can see from the latest update pic I have re worked the trunk, this was because I didn't feel the first attempt showed enough depth to the skin, so it was all erased and I started again, each section is now taking me around two hours, so progress is slow, but I think it's worth the time and effort, let me know what you think....Im also widening the ear almost to the edge of the paper.

Old Wrinkly wip

As you can see this piece is slowly coming together, though there is still a few hours work left to do, it seems to be one wrinkle at a time.... this whole piece was inspired by the work of Martin Fitzpatrick and Gary Hodges check them out! I hope to post more by the weekend.

New Work Update

After 15 hours and lots of blending this is where I'm at with my new piece, still no title but a few ideas going around in my head. I may put this to one side over the bank holiday, I've been promising myself to have a go with the oil paints I bought recently, not sure what I'm going to do with them, maybe another Elephant....