Here is a step-by-step walk through how my latest piece "Shades of Life" was created, and all my thoughts and feelings at each stage along the way! This may come as a surprise to many of you, but here I am sticking a to-scale print-off of my reference photo to the window so that I can trace the outline... OMG!! ARGH!! WHAT A MEGA CHEAT!! I always thought so too, but guess what? So many Artists do this. I mean.. LOADS of them do this. Even the professionals. I was horrified too, until I realised that as a Work at Home parent, I really don't have time to spend hours and hours getting the perfect outline (because trust me, I have spent longer on the outline than on the actual drawing in the past!) I really admire and envy Artists who can just knock out perfect sketches. It's amazing. But I just can't. There was a time when I used a grid, but I basically got the same result through tracing, so I decided to save myself a load of time. And honestly, the way I see it, the skill is in bringing the outline to life, and not in the outline itself. (For the record - I don't always trace the reference photos, it really depends on how complicated they are). So here we go, I'm ready to start on the fun bit! Here's what I used: WHSmith Pure Graphite Sticks. I LOVE these pencils. They are so beautiful and smooth to use, and they are solid graphite (as opposed to a strip lead through wood) so they can be used at an angle to create thick pencil strokes. Also, due to the fact that they are pure graphite, the sharpening filings can be smudged to create gorgeous blotchy, blended backgrounds. Derwent Coloursoft Colouring Pencils. These I am not convinced by. I found them very difficult to work with. However, I am determined to master them so I will definitely be using them again. Also.. Blending stump, pencil eraser, standard eraser, blue tack and burnisher (not pictured). First Step.. the Tulips (being right handed, I always work left to right. This minimises smudging). I absolutely loved drawing these Tulips! (Hahaha! Just look at that Badger! I mean is it even a Badger? Or is it a Dog.. or a Pig..? This just proves that tracing the outline really isn't that much of a big deal! Also, look how shoddy my lines are! Imagine how shoddy they would have been if I hadn't traced it!) Ok, I'm panicking.. this is not going to plan. I hate these pencils. I hate that Tulip. I've ruined the whole picture. I'm gutted. And I absolutely regret using A3 paper.. should have stuck to A4. Why, oh why, did I feel the need to 'challenge' myself!?!? I'm persevering.. starting to feel a bit better about it, although I still feel it might have been a terrible idea.. (I'm also still wondering how the heck I'm going to make a Pig look like Badger...) Horrendous. I hate the Badger's nose even more than I hate that Tulip. The Badger / Pig / Whatever-the-hell-it's-meant-to-be is ugly and I hate it. I am fuming and close to shredding the whole thing. Being the stubborn cow that I am, I refused to give up, and the Badger is going surprisingly well. It seems that my camera hates that Tulip as much as I do, as it is refusing to get an accurate photo of it. After reworking the nose and filling in the other eye, I am now very glad that I didn't shred this drawing (still not happy with that Tulip, though!). I genuinely feel that blending Colour into Graphite will actually work, so that is an accomplishment. I am, however, looking forward to getting it finished so that I can move on from this emotional roller coaster. FINISHED!! YAY! I don't LOVE the outcome, but I do really like it. It tried very hard to go wrong, so I played it safe in places, but all things considered I think it turned out really well! Even the Tulip! Someone is already interested in buying it, so it must be ok! It has a strong symbolic meaning behind it that I can closely relate to (details of which can be found in my Blog Post "Shades of Life" The Inspiration Behind the Artwork)
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