EAP

,... and...  so where was I.   Oh yeah, my next project is started below. It is one I have wanted to do for a long time but never felt my skill level was good enough. However at some point you have to dive in and mess up to learn,.. so bare with me while I get this life lesson behind me.

.... a
ghost
of a
King,.....

This project will have many layers, many phases,.. and lets be honest, many errors and corrections.
Yes the head is still too lite, yes the sleeve of the right arm is a little off putting (see closer details below),.. but the head is pail because I am still selecting a background or even if there will be one.

The second sleeve has more detail which seems acceptable, but the lower edge seems wrong for being so dark however against the guitar body it will be much more reasonable.  Similar effect on the edge of the cuff but in the opposite order,.. the cuff seems unfinished but will be in contrast to the left sleeve which will be darker,... ... ... all this just to explain what I mentioned above on how this project will look incomplete or flat out wrong in many of its iterations until it is finished to my satisfaction.

.
..
...
....


For any interested parties who have been visiting my blog for the past 10-12 days, I owe you all an apology for my absence. Real Life took over for a while and I had too many ideas, thoughts and images stirring in my head, trying to juggle too many tasks, and sadly not managing it all too well,... BUT now major projects are finally back on track (decided to accept help) and personal illness is being remedied (nothing major, just wore myself down and got a severe ear infection) as for the inner workings of my mind,.. well it is as good as it is suppose to be I think.

cogito ergo sum
"I think therefore I am". -  René Descartes

sB

Final Fishin'

Ok,.. enough is enough. This is far from my masterpiece but I seem to have trouble letting it go. Now it is what it is,.. lets all call it a scratch that needed an itch (or vice versa).

I tweaked the line a little and the lower lip as well as filled in the splashing water (my feeble attempt at giving it depth and a dimensional feel).

12" x 8-1/2"  70lb paper.  HB, kneaded eraser, and assorted blending tools. 

Gone Fishin' ,..... still

Large Mouth Bass or at least my interpretation of one. I had hoped to give the impression you as an audience was looking from a point of view at water level on the fish's side, however my wife thinks it mostly looks like a giant Bass about to eat a itty bitty fishi-man in one gulp. Myself, I think I am on the right track,.. a few more tweaks and I can move on,...

.....

,... fishin' for a challenge.

I had seen this in my mind,.. a mental imagine,.. a daydream of sorts. I think this piece will be interesting to draw and so far it is a good start,.. it will be a rare project where the main interest (Bass fish) is countered by the background (fisherman, river, forest), and hopefully all tied together with the splashing water (which will be by far the greatest challenge for me). 

.... lets hope I can pull it all off.

sB

White-Tailed Deer Buck.

I've rarely had to re-work, re-draw or even purposefully over-draw aspects of any project as much as I have on this one but finally I think I will call it complete.

The white-tailed deer (also known as a Virginia Deer) is native to the Americas, from Canada to Peru. It is a medium to small sized deer that sheds and grows antlers every year. For the record, Bambi was/is a white-tailed deer.  So without further ado,.. here is my version of a White-Tailed Deer Buck.

The following is mostly about the pitfalls of learning and corrections I had to do before arriving at the final result shown above. The tree in the background needed to look realistic but not in focus to give the illusion of depth,.. just like in real life, you need to imagine you see details that are not visually there, your mind simply puts them there from memory.


The Tree.

First full
attempt,
and truly
not too
bad but
still looked
too cartoon
like for my taste.

So my thinking
was to add depth
by layering different
graphites and then
erasing them
strategically.



                                                                                      

                                                                    I think finally this works better,...
                                                                                                                   


The other big challenge for me was the head,.. actually the face,.. rather simple at first sight it was oddly difficult to correctly fit the eyes within the size and shape of the head, as well as the location of the antlers. I had a rough time figuring this out on my own, but with a little honesty from my dearest wife, she involuntarily guided me to a final product I am pleased with.


The Head.








The start is easy
once you have
outlined where the
details are to go,...






 








A critical point for
any face is first and
foremost the placement
of the eyes.
(at least for me)



 

Feeling a little odd
about the face so far
I decided I would try 
one set of antlers to see
if it was a visual balance
or symmetry thing.

I also brought in the
eyes, just slightly. 







  

At this point it would
seem alright but not
entirely visually pleasing.
Something was off but
I could not isolate it.  

So I asked my best critic
and she made the observation
it looked more like a lama
than a deer.




 

Figures she was right,
(like she most often is)
so I thinned the shape
of the face and the neck
as well as rounded the ears 
and,... 

not
quite
yet,....


 






... finally dropped the eyes,
tweaked the nose and rounded
out the cheeks,...


Voila!


This I like better.
(I feel I am looking at a deer now)








All in all, I enjoyed this project. The coat of thin lite winter fur was interesting to try and duplicate and I obviously took some heavy artistic liberties but in a sense in works I believe since it gives a sense of direction. Hope you all enjoyed my challenges and agree with the final product.

Drawn on 11 x 14 on 70lb paper (since I knew there would be few very dark areas) using an HB, a 0.7mm mechanical pencil and very little of a 6B graphite pencil (for the eyes and nose) , a kneading and hard eraser as well as various methods to attempt to make snow (not as successfully as I would have liked but you live and learn).

....

for my heart,...

Just a quick one for my dear wife.
Love You Sweetheart.

(this is our new kitten 'Justice')
...