Occasionally I get asked to draw something different. Something that challenges me and gives me an opportunity to learn new skills, techniques and in this case textures!
There were a few elements of this piece which were new to me and I had to experiment on a scrap piece of paper to find the best way of tackling them. The first was the blanket the newborn baby was wrapped in. It was similar to towel fabric and I relied heavily on my graphite powder for this. Scroll down to see how 🙂
Graphite Powder: The one tool I couldn’t be without
This simple but effective medium has changed my graphite pieces and enhanced the final piece massively. My Rhino graphite piece is a prime example.
The entire background was done using the graphite powder and using Sofft Tools to get that fine blending. I wanted a very soft look and a vignette type effect to draw all the attention to the Rhino. In the reference photo there was another Rhino laying down behind which I felt although out of focus wasn’t needed in the artwork so I decided to leave that out and focus entirely on how beautiful the photographer had captured this majestic animal. The amazing reference photo was taken and kindly provided by Craig Maisfield.
Newborn Blanket: How did I do it with the powder?
Applying a thin, light handed layer of graphite powder I then used my Tombow Mono eraser to create the highlighted texture. In areas where the fabric was creased I then went back with a light, harder pencil (2H etc) with a light hand and added some subtle tones to add more shadow and 3 dimensional look. This was exactly how I tackle the mans shirt. His shirt had a small lined texture which I wanted to capture.
Easy to rush..
Sometimes it’s easy to rush parts of a piece that don’t interest you as much. For instance, I loved working on the faces of both subjects but the fabric and T-shirt was a challenge and I could have easily not spent as much time as I did but the end result would not have been the same. If you are wanting a realistic end piece every element of the piece needs to be to the same standard.
Top tip when drawing people
This can relate to any subject really.. There are times where I am working on a piece and something just doesn’t look right. You cannot see what it is at the time but it bugs you. This was the case for me part way through the dad of this piece. I could not see what it was but as I continued with the piece I realised that everything was correct but because I hadn’t got the adding the facial hair the piece didn’t look at it should when glancing from my reference photo to my drawing. Details such as facial hair need to be added on the last couple of layers. Get your facial tones down first and then work from what you see upwards. Then it’s like something clicks all of a sudden and the piece no longer looks ‘not right’ it’s just it isn’t finished.
I have a lot of artists follow me on social media often asking if I do tuition or have a Patreon Channel. At this time I do not but I have almost 100 seperate videos over on my YouTube channel. From full time lapse of various subjects to some slower videos with captions explaining what I am doing.
I am happy to create more blog posts with photos explaining what I am doing, the tools I use and any techniques that you may find will help your work.
Or maybe you just enjoy knowing how I put together the pet portraits on canvas or paper and may want to know if you were considering having a portrait done of your pet or family member.
Feel free to get in touch and I will cover any topic I can 🙂
zara.toms@hotmail.co.uk
www.facebook.com/Zara.Toms.Artist