Monday 13 July 2009

Partridge progress


Slowly but surely the partridge is progressing,i'm trying to portray it in a detailed manner without getting to bogged down in the details,but sometimes there simply is no quick way to portray the complex feather patterns convincingly especially when working in graphite if the end result is to look anything more than just a sketch.I've started as usual by laying down a light layer of h grade pencil on the back and rump of the bird then overlayed with h grade again but this time leaving highlights where the feather pattern is lighter in tone and ive gradually darkened the piece working through h,hb and b grade pencils to build up tone and shape to the body with feather markings added in b and 2b grade pencils.at this point the feathers are almost complete with just the rump and tail feathers to go and then i can move back to the background firstly darkening the toned area at the top left of the picture and then adding background and foreground details between the snow in such a way as to make the bird stand out nicely whilst still looking believeably natural.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Good Luck in the Exhibition in the UK. your work is stunning.

Unknown said...

thanks doreen,ive had quite a lucky month already so far with 3 originals sold at the royal show!