This piece was my first try at drawing a furry animal in detail and I must say it came out pretty good. At first when I looked at the picture it looked really complex but I like to challenge myself so I went at it. The eyes seemed like the easiest place to start (it’s good to find a comfort spot for starting any drawing) and then I worked my way out from there. Drawing all that fur was really tedious and then I ran into some problems with the whiskers. How was I going to get thin white whiskers to show up over the pencil markings? Then I came up with the idea of scouring the paper with a metal pinhead before shading the area with the rest of fur. It worked but it didn’t come out as visible as I hoped it would but it felt good to come up with my own ideas. It took me about two weeks to complete this piece (I had five other subjects) and I was over whelmed with the result, I felt like I could have done anything after drawing the cat. A couple years after I had an issue with the drawing fading but then I darkened the pencil shading and sprayed it with my handy fixative (no CFC of course) so all was well again. My aunt who hates cats loved the drawing and took it in and there it remains for the rest of its nine lives. What are some of your techniques for getting around those furry animals?
My first furry friend was a tiger (2007) - started off as more of a doodle than an intention. I was way behind on my fist form SBA pieces and lacking inspiration as per usual. Eyes are the most difficult for me so I began with the ears... top of the image and work my way down. Pencil became pen (favorite doodle tool) and something I never would have attempted before started to look like an animal. No special techniques for that one though as far as I can recall. He came out with a black eye (yay for the pen) and a chubby face but I was really impressed by the fur... was sorry to send that one off to CXC but I made lots of copies. Sorry I can't attach the image. Strange that I still avoid animals because they seem challenging yet I completed the tiger and had fun doing it. Guess getting past the challenge of what to draw is the issue, rather than how to get it done...things just start to happen once you finally dirty the canvas :)
ReplyDeleteIts true that starting is a challenge sometimes but like you said once the canvas is dirty it all starts to flow
ReplyDeleteI always wonder if drawing the detail in fur is as difficult and tedious as it looks.
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