Tiger

This is the drawing I mentioned in my post "Work in Progress." It  has been submitted for consideration as cover art, but I don't know yet whether it will be accepted. Unfortunately, I could not get a very good picture of the work. Also, I am sure that there are many other talented artists out there who submitted their work as well. In any event, this is a drawing that I had a lot of fun with. Instead of drawing from one reference photo, I used many just to get an idea of the tiger's general features. I really like how it turned out. It does not look entirely realistic and it is not supposed to. I wanted the drawing to have some personality to it. Although this photo of the drawing is not very good (too dark!) I think that it still shows some of the highlights in the real drawing.
One of my future goals is to try to figure out a way to get better pictures of my drawings. It is difficult to get the right light, as direct lighting makes the graphite look shiny. I also want to avoid altering the images on the computer, as I think this would misrepresent what the real thing looks like.
Enjoy!

Hot Tea

A hot cup of tea for a cold winter day!

Reference Photo Source: Janis Photography, found on DeviantArt.
http://browse.deviantart.com/photography/?qh=&section=&q=yellow+tea+cup#/d15vfcp

This was a nice, quick drawing to do. It is very good practice to do simple, still object drawings now and then. They are especially helpful to practice shading, which affects the depth and dimensions of the drawing. Awareness of light sources and the contrast of light and shadows are important to these features and add to the realistic qualities of the drawing. I chose the above reference photo because I liked the way the handle made a heart shape with it's shadow on the teacup. I added the steam coming from the cup to add
warmth to the drawing-
because no-one likes cold tea!

Tara

Reference Photo

Framed

This is a drawing in graphite of my mom's dog, Tara. Tara is a Tervuren, or Belgian sheep dog. These dogs are tan and black, and have a lot of thick fur. For this drawing, the fur was the hardest to do. However, the face and especially the eyes were the elements that I was trying to draw attention to the most, so in this case it was not necessary for the fur to have a lot of detail. When creating a drawing I find it is important to think of what features you want to bring out the most. When drawing live subjects that are looking directly at the viewer, it is usually best to try to draw attention to the eyes. Eyes are often the best features for expressing emotion, and it is where most people naturally look when they are talking to someone. Unfortunately for me, at the time I was drawing this I did not have the best reference photo - as you can see above the camera flash completely blocked the eyes. Therefore, I had to draw the eyes from memory and occasionally looking at the real thing. This portrait was a Christmas present for my mother, hence the wait to post!

Work in Progress

I am currently working on a couple of pieces, which should be ready to post before the New Year. One piece is a completely original artwork I designed of a tiger. It is to be submitted competitively at the beginning of January for a chance to be the Dalhousie cover for their undergraduate writing journal, called Fathom. Since the tiger is Dal's mascot, I thought it might be a good idea for a cover, and I don't think it has been done for the journal before. So far it is turning out nicely, and hopefully it will be finished and ready to post soon.
Happy Holidays!