This is my work area, all set up and ready to go. You can see the reference photo I was working from. Note the cup of tea ;) I work on Bristol Board paper for pencil drawings. You can see the other bits and bobs I use all lined up too...
I always start with the eyes. I lay a tissue over the area I have already worked on to stop my hand from smudging it...
After the eyes, I started working on the nose. You can faintly see in this photo that when working from photos, I use a grid system to draw to make sure I get all proportions correct and stay true to the animal and it's character...
Next I started to render the fur, which is the most time consuming part as it is built up in lots of layers....
This next photo makes me smile. I got to a stage in the drawing where I was struggling. I had done most of the dark fur but still had the white fur around her muzzle to draw. I don't find white fur easy to draw. It needs to have enough definition in it to look like fur without giving it too much contrast so it doesn't look too dark. I had put down my pencil and was sat staring at the drawing, having a break. At that moment, the clouds parted outside my window, a ray of sunshine shone through and and cast a beautiful rainbow right on to the page. I'm not one to believe in afterlife (don't worry, this blog is for my creative work, not my religious thoughts so I won't go into detail), but I gave Beatie a little nod and a smile and immediately felt ready to carry on...
Here are some photos of the finished piece.
My friend doesn't live near to me so I posted the drawing to her and her family. I also added this poem in with it too:
You
thought of her today,
But
that is nothing new.
You
thought about her yesterday,
And
days before that too.
You
think of her in silence,
You
often speak her name.
Now
all you have are memories,
And
this picture for a frame.
This
memory
of her is your keepsake,
With
which I hope you'll never part.
You
have this in your keeping,
You'll
always
have Beatie in your heart.
My friend was delighted with it.
