Cara-Jane - progress 7

This is where it starts getting exciting. All of the outlining seems worth it now.

From the start I'm using a combination of HB and 2B to shade, getting the correct amount of dark in the hair.

I'm shading from left to right, so as not to smudge any of the graphite as I go. I do, however, always have a small piece of paper that my hand rests on when outlining or shading, to keep the paper clean. I never touch the paper with my fingers or my hand, as the natural oils in the skin can make it difficult to rub off graphite the paper.

Cara-Jane - progress 6

Woo hoo!

At this stage I can't rush ahead and begin shading. Just because the outline looks complete, I need to go over it with a fine toothed comb to double check that every is in place and ready to go. This doesn't take too long, and we should see some progress in the shading side of things very shortly.

This portrait is going to be awesome.

Cara-Jane - progress 5

Getting there.

Cara-Jane just came up and said, "Dad, is that hard?" The answer was that no, it isn't any harder than drawing the eye or shading the hair, it just takes longer.

I find that so odd. When you see the finished product, a cheek tone looks so much 'easier' than an ear or a braid of hair, but there is no difference. In fact, sometime skin tones take much longer to get to the right shade.

Here's a close up of the detail in the shirt.
Click on the image to get a further zoomed in view.

Cara-Jane - progress 4

It's been a while since I've drawn and it's really time to get back into it. My goal was to have all four daughters done by Christmas, but I probably won't even get two done. That's alright though. Keep ploughing on.

You can see in this scan the density and complexity of the floral shirt. There's not a predictable pattern to it, and not much uniformity in terms of size of flowers or length of stems.
This makes it a painstaking process of measuring, cross-referencing and checking to make sure it looks how its meant to.

I'm really looking forward to the shading of this picture, but I know that there are a few more hours to go until I get to that stage. Hang in there!

Cara-Jane - progress 3

Getting there.

I figure I don't have to be too exact with the hair at this stage, as when I shade I normally put a blanket colour down, then work from there.

Time to tackle these flowers! Let's do it!

Cara-Jane - progress 2

Okay, so the one eye thing is a bit freaky, but this is where I made it up to tonight.

I'm trying to get the outline done a bit quicker than normal to see how it goes, but that's virtually impossible when it comes to eyes. If the eyes aren't right, then it doesn't look like the person at all.

Still not tackling the floral top yet. Just you wait, it's a doozy!

Cara-Jane - progress 1

It's been too long since I've drawn.

The portrait of Phoebe was four months ago. I need to speed things up a bit, or our girls will look so different by the time I've finished!

Once again, the outline stage is slightly freaky. Teeth were never meant to be outlined!

You can't see it now, but Cara-Jane's top is very densely floral and will be the biggest challenge in this portrait.

But for now, it's head down and get this outline underway. A few hours into it now.

Phoebe

Phoebe - progress 6

So close to finishing!

Since the last post I took the HB lead out of my pacer and replaced it with a 2B one. I was completely amazed at the difference in darkness. I shaded using 2B on certain sections of the hair, the eyes and corners of the mouth. I feel it gives so much more depth to the picture, especially in the hair.

I look back at pictures I did at the start of the year (of my brother and myself), where I thought I had been so brave to go so dark, and now I see that, compared to this, they're a bit washed out.

I was looking at a picture I drew of me and my wife. At the time she suggested that I go darker, but I'd spent sixteen hours of the thing and the thought of going over the whole thing again just didn't appeal.

Now I know it's worth it.

Okay, back to the drawing board - not much longer now...

Phoebe - progress 5

Phew! I've been working on this for a total of around 14 hours.
When I spend so much time on a drawing of someone I know and love, it reminds me of the actual time I should be invest in them.


Her hair really makes this picture I think. The ringlets are just beautiful.
Just for a bit of marketing, Phoebe is wearing a hairtie made by my wonderful wife. She sells them at markets, but check her out online here at Made it. You might find something for yourself or a gift for someone else.

Phoebe - progress 4

Faces are so enjoyable to shade.

From a freaky outline to a recognisable person.

As in life, often the small things can make the biggest difference. I find when shading the face, the eyelashes are such a key part of the drawing - before I draw them things just don't look right, but once their in, everything seems to fit together better.

Skin tones can be tricky. You're mind tells you not to go too dark, so you have to really rely on your eyes. Often you have to walk away from the drawing for a few hours and come back with a fresh perspective.

The two scans above may look identical, but the one on the right has been worked over for around an hour and a half - readjusting the shape of the nose, darkening the lips and general skin tones. 

The patience will pay off.

Phoebe - progress 3

There's an artist in the UK that has a blog somewhat similar to mine. Click here to check it out. I think her work is spectacular.

Last week I emailed her regarding the type of paper she uses. She wrote back saying that she checked this blog out and that I have a "great eye". It's always nice to be encouraged by someone. She also encouraged me not to be too afraid to go darker, and that my portraits were erring on the side of caution. That's good advice.

Right from the outset of the shading I'm making sure that I'm spending the time to really acheive the darks that I'm after. It's a bit scary after dealing with a clean white piece of paper for a number of hours.

Phoebe - progress 2

Outline completed. I'm glad my daughter doesn't really look like this!
This is around 6 hours into the drawing.

Before shading I need to double check that the outline is to my liking.
To do this I get some tracing paper and trace my drawing. I then lay it over the original photo. If I notice any differences between my drawing and the photo, I make the changes.

Going from the outlining stage to the shading stage is exciting. Both processes take patience, yet they are so different from each other.

Phoebe - progress 1

The first two scans of the outline (around the 4 hour mark)
Up to this point it's all fairly relaxed - time consuming, but relaxed.
For here on in with the ouline, it's precision central.
It's critical to be accurate with the details of the eyes, nose and mouth, as well as the shapes of the shadows on the face.
Comparing the first two scans of my drawings always gives me confidence that although it's a painstaking task, it is coming together and will look amazing.
Definitely a game of patience.

It's about time

Finally!
I have been wanting to draw my daughters for a long time now.
Just when I think it's time to organise getting some good photos for reference, I get a request for a commission piece.

Yesterday we visited my brother who was very gracious in lending his photographic expertise in taking the above photos.

Looking at each of the photos I know there will be challenges with each one: skin tones, patterns on clothing, hair, etc.

It's been a couple months since I last did some serious drawing and I'm more than ready to sink my teeth into something.

Now I've just got to decide which girl to start with...

Stay tuned for some progress shots.

Brothers

I drew these portraits of my brother and I for my mother's 60th birthday.
Both had very similar frustrations. Once again I battled with being afraid of the dark and having my drawing too light.

The night before I was going to give it to mum I presented the finished portrait of me to my wife. "I think it could be darker," she says. *Groan!* I've just spent 15 hours or so on this thing and the whole thing needs to be darkened.

I have learnt to appreciate my wife's set of eyes. She refers to the reference photo and finds every single inaccuracy in my drawing! At the start it was a little hard to take.

It's funny that the more complicated the clothing is to draw, the better it looks. It's frustrating and monotonous at the time, but the finished product is impressive. I do think, however, that the diagonal lines in my brother's shirt could have been a bit darker.

Mum has these pictures framed in her house and it's rewarding to see them there.

I thought it would be weird drawing a self portrait, but it wasn't. Each detail was lost amongst the others, and it wasn't until the shading that I could step back and recognise it was me. But then I'd zoom in again and get lost in the shapes and lines and shadows. Fun stuff.

A man and his dog

This is my cousin and his dog Otto.
I drew this as a Christmas present without him knowing about it.
My cousin lives overseas and I haven't seen him for probably 13 years or so. With things like Skype it seems silly that there hasn't been any contact. Must change that.

Thinking of trying something different here:
Click here to see a slideshow of various stages of progress.