Day 73

I annoyed myself with how small I drew this. First off it's a whole different difficulty level but my eyes get all crossed and my neck starts stiffing. I started the drawing with the outlines of the woman and horse and didn't worry about the water at all. Once I was done with that I worked my way down starting with the hair and finished by shading the horse's backside. The horse was a little tricky as most of it was hidden in shadow in the semi-low resolution photo. I worked a lot of it out by memory of the previous horse I drew. One of my least favorite things to draw is water because I never know to get into it. I started by placing the shadows and worked out the rest somehow.

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Anonymous said…
i cannot remember exactly where you mentioned it, (perhaps it was with the smoke figure on black paper) but you were having difficulty spraying your drawing. the pastel, especially white pastel on dark paper, disappears when sprayed. there are a couple of solutions to this problem. 1. don't use pastel. i use charcoal and white charcoal. the white charcoal acts the same as pastel but does not disappear when sprayed. 2. if you must use pastel, change the type and method of spraying. i was having this problem so i tried different sprays. i found the best one for the job was "sax workable fixative" you can buy it online at sax.com. hold the can about 18 - 24 inches away from the artwork. make sure it is not a windy day. spray in a way that the particles of fixative lightly and gently settle on the artwork. apply multiple light layers using this method. once a few layers are on and protecting the artwork, you can begin to spray a LITTLE BIT heavier. this method takes time (waiting for layers of fixative to dry) and a lot of fixative, but it is the only way i have found to protect pastel when spraying.

my favorite kind of spray is krylon crystal clear acrylic spray. with enough layers i can eat a spaghetti dinner using a drawing as a plate and then run it through the dishwasher and it will still be protected. but the shine it creates makes art photography difficult.

i have found that pastel never really gets dark enough, which may be good if you don't like dark images. it gets everywhere. and it is a bitch to protect. i stay away from pastel. pastel pencils are nice, though. charcoal pencils are my favorite on a drawing i am going to spend a lot of time on. for sketching i use cheap plastic bic mechanical pencils. they give me a good range of values and never need sharpening. also, with retractible leads, they keep clean.
03 November, 2012 16:38
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