Dachshund

Here is my first attempt at drawing a dog, a short haired Dachshund.  I used pastel pencils on pastel paper.  I loved drawing the eyes and nose the most (and I think it probably shows), the fur I found challenging and also selecting what colours to use, but overall I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.  I just love those eyes!

I discovered a pet portraiture course the other day at the London Art College.  It's a 1 year course and I think I'm going to take it!  They accept overseas students and you can work through the course at your own pace and learn how to draw and paint animals in a variety of mediums.

Pastel portrait

I decided to have another go at Thomas' portrait but this time with my pastel pencils.  I didn't quite capture his likeness with this one but I enjoyed drawing it so much.  I'm quite pleased with how the skin tone looks, I think there are about 7 colours in the skin alone.  I'm really glad I decided to buy the full set of Faber Castell pencils because I think I'm going to be using these quite a lot :)

Chiaroscuro

I  recently bought a book called "The Artist's Complete Guide to Drawing the Head" by William Maughan.  It describes a method of drawing called chiaroscuro where form is established by shadows and light rather than lines.  This is my first attempt at chiaroscuro, I used faber castell pastel pencil in "Indian Red" with just a smidge of "white" pencil here and there for highlights.  I'm quite happy with the results and I will definitely be using this method of drawing again I think.

Pastel Pencils!

I decided to buy a set of pastel pencils the other week, just to give them a go as I've always loved the look of pastel paintings but using them in the form of a pencil was more attractive to me.  I bought a set of 60 Faber Castell PITT pastel pencils and some paper and this is what I came up with for my first drawing.  I used a photo reference, it's a Cape Parrot (from South Africa I think).  I'm so pleased with the way it turned out.  I found the feathers quite difficult but with practice I think this is something I could get used to doing - drawing animals that is.