quick update-Tiger progress

The Tiger is progressing nicely now with lots of layers of tone layed down on the front leg and extensive fur detailing added.Its a slow process very much akin to building up an oil or acrylic painting and so once the underlying tones are correct then layers of fur texture are added on top,which ,in turn,can be overlayed with more graphite in areas,just like glazing with oils.Once the second limb is completed it will throw the nearer limb forward nicely and look a good deal less flat.

Tiger drawing update-working on fur texture

Progress on the tiger so far has been a little slow as i'm still spread a little thin with two shows running at the moment and preparation work underway for a new commissioned piece as well as preparing for my upcoming workshop in october.

since my last post i have been working up the tone on the cat with layers of graphite working up from H grade thru to B grade with rather loose directional fur strokes added with a loose wrist so as to keep it varied in length and shape and not appear to mechanical.The stripes are worked up by layering once again with all grades of pencil used from H thru to 3B.Periodically i'm having to add more tone to the background to help the cat stand out and of course it will be given a complete overhaul at the end of the drawing.I aim to complete the body of the cat before moving onto the face to ensure the wispy fur details and whiskers stand out nicely.

a warm welcome to all

you could have knocked me down with a feather this morning when i signed into blogger! i thought there must have been an error on my dashboard to see so many new followers appear overnight.i dont know what happened but i'm absolutely delighted that so many of you liked the blog enough to follow it.thankyou all so much and particular thanks for your warm comments on my work,as an artist working alone in my studio it is so nice to get some feedback and realise that the work is appreciated.i hope that you'll continue to find the work here worthy of your presence and look forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions.

Sumatran Tiger drawing-background toning complete

The background toning on this piece is finally complete..for now.There are numerous layers of graphite here and frankly i was getting bored and so i'm going to move onto the tiger at the earliest opportunity.Progress will be slow here as i'm going to be working on some commissioned work at the same time but on the plus side if i get bored again i can swap between pieces.

Sumatran Tiger drawing

After a little while away from big cat art it's time to get back into the swing of things with a portrait of a stalking sumatran tiger.this is quite a large image for me at 16"x10" and so will take a while to complete.i now have two drawing boards in my enlarged studio and i will be working on a commissioned piece on my second board,alternating between the two to keep things fresh.so far on this tiger piece i have been working on the background toning having already layered the piece twice with H grade pencil ive now moved onto HB and B grades.this is a time consuming process and will take several days to tone the background.

barn Owl-final version

The final,slightly tweaked version of my latest Barn Owl drawing.

Barn owl completed

i finished this one up last night and left it on the board until this morning so that i could look at it with fresh eyes.there are a few minor tweaks required here and there but for all intents and purposes it's finished.