Should I finish it?

I found this half finished drawing of a capsicum that I had originally intended to be part of a triptych to go in my kitchen (it was the first one to be started...the others were going to be garlic and an apple if I remember correctly). It was tucked away under my desk. I have no idea why.

Should I bother finishing it do you think? Or should I bin it? You choose.

Nude Montage part 3

Part three of the nude montage is underway... not sure which paper I pulled out this time..it was a partial sheet and the watermark had been cut off LOL Could be the Windsor and Newton stuff or it could be Fabriano. This one is a bit bigger than the last two... 6 x 9 inches.

Thanks for looking.

Almost there! I'm at the stage where I am starting to tweak bits and pieces...at the moment I'm fiddling with her teeth and hair...not completely happy with either of these areas just yet. I'll be delivering the dude in the next couple of days...so I'll post a final pic veeery shortly :o)

M

Half way there...

Another bad PDA photo I'm afraid :( It's all a bit wishy washy...but you can see where I'm up to at least.

Rob is pretty much done except for some final tweaking at the end...there is a fair bit more detail in his hair than can be seen in this shot.

Hmm now that I am looking at this photo... I need to soften the shadow that defines his cheek and comes down to the corner of his mouth....looks a little Scarface-ish LOL ...will be fixed for next installment. ;)

M

Movin right along!

I got lots of drawing done this past weeked because the DH was away :o)

The eyes are about 90% done...I'll go back and push the darks a bit at the end to balance the whole pic and refine it a bit.

I also did his shirt..and a bit of hers, and started to fiddle with his hair.

Back to the drawing board!

M

One Eyeball muwahahaha!

Started on the eyes. Sorry the photo is bad...DH took off with my good camera for the weekend, so I took this with my pda phone's dinky little camera. :(

A couple of hours in and I've got the background ninety percent done, and have started on Rob's hair...I will probably move to working on his eyes next I think.

I love surprises!

This one is going to be fun! The young guy in this portrait has commissioned the drawing for his girlfriend for Christmas. It's a great pose...very different to the usual portraits I get to do...but the photo was taken at close range with a flash, so some of the features have been flattened somewhat... my challenge this time will be to have good modelling and a good range of tones in the facial features.

I'm doing this one on Fabriano Artistico (ya..I finally got my hands on my favourite paper again YAY!) ...size is 8x10" with a nice tight crop so the whole of the image area will be covered in graphite. The Fabriano allows me to make some really nice rich darks without too much shine as is common with graphite...so that background will be solid black...I think I'll start there to set the overall tone of the piece...........off to the drawing board!

M

Baby BJ Finished!

Finished! This little cutie has turned out much better than I had anticipated and I am quite chuffed with the texture I was able to create for her jumpsuit...in the past I usually rushed to finish the clothing on a subject without giving it the same attention as the face and hair, but this time I forced myself to slow down and work at getting a realistic fluffy texture...I'm not sure that it shows up particularly well on the scan, but I am REALLY happy with it :o) Now all I need to do is matt and frame it ready for delivery...if I remember I'll take a piccy and post it so you can see the finished product.

M

Two Cheeks! :o)

The face is basically done for the moment. I may need to go back and darken the right side of the face a little more, but I'll decide that later on. The digital photo has dropped out some of the mid tones along BJ's jaw line...so the line is a little harsh, but it is a nice soft gradation IRL.

Next step....hair!

Cheeky Baby BJ

I've started to darken the right side of the forehead that is in shadow, and I've started to model the nose , left cheek and upper lip, and already baby BJ is starting to look a little more smiley. :o)

Don't you just love baby cheeks?? I just want to pinch 'em!

Baby BJ finding the darks

Okay...now I've started to establish the darkest areas of the portrait so that I can use them as a guage for the rest of the tones in the portrait and keep things balanced as I go along.


Baby BJ is looking a little stunned at the moment :o) but that will turn into a gorgeous smile as I begin to render the upper lip and chubby cheeks. You may also notice that she doesn't have eye lashes yet...I like to wait until very close to the end in case I need to adjust any of the tones around her eyes.

I think I've probaby put 5 or 6 hours into this so far.

Baby BJ

I love drawing babies! All that smooth skin and wonderful big eyes! This is a project that I am doing as a baby gift for a good friend of mine of her beautiful little girl. I think its always more fun drawing people I know...there seems to be more of a connection...that and I can have fun deciding which of her parents BJ got her features from :o).


So..here goes...I'm using 2b and H graphite on Strathmore Bristol 300 series smooth.


I always start by rendering the eyes...if I can't good a good likeness in the eyes, it's useless trying to complete the portrait.

Next I'll start to establish some of the darkest areas of the portrait so that I can keep the tone balanced as I go along.

The husband is finished!

I have been so slack! I finished this portrait of my husband a couple of weeks ago, but haven't managed to post it yet! :o) Sooo...here it is. I am reasonably pleased with it...even if he is looking way too serious! LOL The good thing is that he is happy with it...no mean feat I can assure you... and it now hangs in our hallway, as well as gracing the cover of his resume. The next one I do of him will, I hope, show more of his wonderful comic personality... :o)

The Husband continues....

Finally! I have had a bit of time to work on this portrait of my husband! It seems like my art has taken a bit of a backseat lately..oh well..that's life I suppose. The portrait is coming along nicely...I'm trying to work a bit darker, but I am not enjoying this paper (Arches) I am really wishing I had used the Fabriano instead. Oh well...maybe I'll redo it down the track sometime.

Husband

Here is my handsome husband :o) He has asked me to do a corporate style portrait to include in his resume.

I am working on Arches hot press watercolour paper in graphite. This piece is approximately A4 size. This is about 4 hours in...so things are still looking pretty sketchy because I tend to work all over the piece, gradually refining the drawing as I go along rather than completing a particular area before moving on.

M