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.

Finished!

I'm not sure if anyone is actually reading my blog or interested in my artwork, but I keep writing about it anyway.  Today I finished the Cat Lady.  Decided to go with a very pale blue dress with a lace collar detail.  I really love working with the watercolour pencils and I plan to do more pieces like this.

second time lucky

I started to colour my drawing yesterday with watercolour pencils and completely messed it up!  Right towards the end too, how annoying.  Anyway, so I've had to start from scratch again with a brand new drawing.  This is what it looks like so far, I'm glad I decided to try again as I like this one a lot better than the first.  It was challenging getting a skin tone, I think there are about 3 or 4 different colours in there.  Not sure what colour the dress will be yet, I don't want it too overpowering as I want the focus to be on the lady's face.