Done!

I have finally finished my seagull drawing. 
The main changes from last time are darkening the background especially in the lower portion. I also darkened the seagull's reflection to make the white areas look brighter.
I am really happy with the result. I will leave it a while before going back to take a last look to see whether it needs any tweaking. If not I shall mat and then frame it.

Laying It On

The first layer is done. Standing back from the drawing the reflection looks better than it does close up. Six to eight feet away is the optimum distance for viewing artwork. Sometimes I forget this and fuss about how a piece of work looks until I leave the room and see the work anew as I come back into the room.
I think the reflection will look even better when I put another, darker layer of blue on the drawing. If you want something to look lighter then put something darker beside it.

Not Quite White

I am continuing to work on my seagull drawing. 

I am not too happy with how the reflection looks at the moment. I began wishing that I had done this drawing on toned paper (perhaps a grey) which would mean I could use a white pencil to put the white in. Because I am using the paper as the white it is harder to see how the white will look until all the blue and grey is coloured in. The white in my source photograph is very bright and the paper may not be bright enough to express that.

It is important not to make a negative judgement too early so I intend to continue on and see what happens when more of the blue is added. Although it is harder to erase coloured pencil than graphite, I can erase or lighten some of the reflection colours and make adjustments later on.
It is in the struggle that you learn to become a better artist even though that struggle is often discouraging and/or frustrating.

Gullible

After constantly telling myself that I would get working on my seagull drawing this day or that, today I finally did. I worked mostly on the bird although it is not finished yet. 

However, I feel I have overcome whatever it was that was blocking me from working on this drawing. Instead of feeling frustrated and dwelling on the challenges, I tried to just enjoy the experience. It worked.

Prior posts about this drawing can be seen here, here, here, and here.

The Art of Travel

It always takes me longer to sort myself out after a trip than I would like or is even reasonable. But it is the way it is.

I have made very little progress on my seagull drawing mostly because I couldn't draw for a long time (and then not for very long) due to my accidents (yes there were two). So I am out of the habit.

I took my drawing with me when I went away and as I sat down to work on it I found my sharpener wasn't sharp enough to get the point on the pencil that I like for my drawings. A sharp point gives me more control on how and where I place my marks. The dull blade on the sharpener was ripping at the wood below the pigment. I didn't have a small screwdriver to change the blade so I thought I might try to do what I could.
Not a good idea. Every step I took just made matters worse.

Focus and looking at what is there (rather than what you think is there) is important when working on a drawing like this and for whatever reason, I jumped in and wasn't paying attention. So I made a mess of the legs by putting  yellow in the wrong place and not concentrating on the shape of the bird's legs. 

A combination of dull pencils, lack of focus and less than optimal lighting. 

What I need is one good positive session with this drawing to get back on track and feel motivated to continue on.

While I was away, I was lucky to catch an exhibition of religious art at Brigham Young University's Museum of Art called 'Sacred Gifts'. 

Some of the works are on loan from Churches in Denmark, Norway and New York. My two favourites can be seen on the flyer below. The first is 'Agony in the Garden' by Frans Schwartz (top far left) and the second 'Christ and the Rich Young Ruler' (bottom).

You can see all the paintings and learn about the artists here.

Drawing Out a Task

It is still difficult for me to spend time drawing but I miss it. So I decided to do a little at a time by splitting the tasks into five minute tasks. Eventually those five minutes will add up to a coloured pencil drawing. At least that is the plan.

First I chose a photograph. This is a 4"x6" photograph and that is the size I decided to do. I'm not a great lover of seagulls but I liked the reflections and texture of the water. Usually I chose a drawing for its challenge rather than liking the picture for itself.

Because the drawing will be the same size as the photograph, I could just trace the main features of the drawing. 

It is perfectly okay to trace an image. I know I can draw and I don't have to prove it to myself or anyone else and tracing saves time. However, if you are learning to draw then drawing items from life is recommended. Photographs flatten objects so practicing drawing from life helps you remember that objects are three-dimensional. When I was learning to draw (of course I am still learning) I would draw anything I could around the house. I even drew a roll of toilet paper once to practice a white item on white paper. Plus it is good to learn how to draw items that are very soft up to very hard.

Here is my tracing. I do have graphite paper that you can put under your tracing paper to transfer the picture onto your drawing paper. However, I find it transfers extra graphite where I am leaning on the paper but I just may be too messy.

So I usually turn it over and go over all the lines before turning it back over and tracing over all the lines again with the drawing paper underneath. 

This leaves a faint image of the tracing on your paper. It is now ready to add colour to.

I should add that the drawing paper is from a larger sheet of Royal Brites. I bought this so long ago that I can't remember what the weight is (it doesn't say this on the label) but it isn't a very heavy paper. Probably as thick as card stock sold in craft shops.