More progress

Slowly but surely the second greylag is starting to shape up feather by feather.Whilst the end result is satisfying the process of drawing each feather by layering several times over is not and i find it easy to lose my concentration at times when the art of drawing is somewhat over-shadowed by repetitive technique.The secret ive found is to take plenty of breaks when the mind starts to wander rather than risk the image becoming a little formulaic,fresh eyes and enthusiasm make a huge difference to the finished piece.Each feather is composed of layers of graphite working from H grade upto 2 or even 3B in somecases and so it's a very time consuming part of the drawing but ive yet to find a quicker more convincing way to do it.Once ive completed the second greylag i'll move onto portraying the water and the myriad of reflections thereon,as long as the water is finished convincingly the whole piece will at that point gel together and i'll know if it's going to work.

One Greylag complete

After another days work on this piece the first greylag is complete.Taking time out this weekend to visit a couple of local agricultural shows to get some new photo reference.

New scans for previous images

'On Thin Ice-Moorhen'

'Distant Gaze-Cheetah'

Thought i'd post a couple of professional scans of my two latest images which will be making their debut at the Royal Bath and West show next week.

Greylag geese progress

More progress on my greylag piece with the furthest goose starting to take shape,another day's work should see it completed.This piece is going to take some time and i hope ,if it is good enough,to enter it in the annual swla show in london.

Greylag geese progress

At last i've managed to complete the background to this piece,its taken a while,a combination of the complexity of the drawing and life getting in the way.It's a relief to be able to make a start on the feathering on the goose to the left hand side of the picture,ive already loosely sketched in the feathers and just like the pebbles in the background its a case of completing it feather by feather!.i'm completing each feather in the same way as i approach most subjects that is by layering,starting with a layer of H grade pencil and working up grade by grade until i reach the 2B which is about the darkest grade i'll need.

Upcoming magazine feature

Delighted to announce that i am a featured artist in the July edition of Artists and Illustrators magazine.I was asked to write an article on my pencil art to go into a larger article focussing on pencil artists working in distinctly different genre's.The article profiles my career to date,my inspiration and my working techniques,as well as a few hints and tips for budding artists.The article also features a selection of my artwork from the last 10 years or so.The july edition hits the shelves in early june.

Greylag geese progress

Well another couple of days under my belt and still i'm working on the pebbles in the background!.Hopefully another full days work should see the stones complete,then at last i can move onto one of the geese.

Greylag geese progress

The background is starting to come together nicely now,albeit slowly.Its virtually complete on the left hand side of the geese and so tomorrow i'll make a start on the right hand background.Pencils lend themselves so well to the portrayal of stones that even though they take so long to do each one the end result is always rewarding.

Greylag geese progress

This drawing has been progressing slowly after several re-hash's of my original design,however at last there is something worth posting.Essentially there will be three greylags,two standing in and one swimming on the water with a pebble beach background.I've made a start on the beach and will complete this section of the picture first,followed by the first goose,then the water and finally the last two geese.The beach is probably going to be the most time-consuming part of the drawing as there's no quick way to portray it other than pebble by pebble.

new drawing started

Portrait of Kae

Together-African elephant and calf

White Tiger

Young Croc

Blackface and lamb

Over the last few days ive been busy sketching out a composition for my latest drawing,as sometimes happens what started out as a study of one bird has now grown to a largescale piece(for me at least) of three greylag geese inspired by trips to scotland and a more recent trip to slimbridge in gloucestershire where they can be viewed at very close quarters.The initial sketches have now been transferred to my prepared paper on the drawing board and today i shall start to put in the initial layers of H grade pencil.As this is going to be such a large scale piece it will take a considerable amount of time to complete and progress is likely to be slow and so unusually for me i shall be working on several drawings simultaneously in order to avoid boredom and getting bogged down.it will also allow me to keep posting things of interest here on my blog as i chop and change between images.At the moment there is very little to see on the drawing board and it is likely to take a few more days work before there is anything worth photographing and so i'm posting some past examples of my work for the benefit of those who may be new to my work.