Polarity

This pair of wolves is representative of the yin yang in nature. Opposites, but not extremes. The black wolf has white, the white wolf has black. White is often associated with male and black with female, so I made the white wolf bigger and more masculine.

I used only charcoal here. I started doing the white wolf by applying the charcoal with a stump, but it didn't progress as I had hoped. Eventually, I gave up and used the 2B charcoal very lightly and blended with a stump. The black wolf has several layers of 6B blended and kneaded to create highlights. The background is two layers of light 6B blended with a tissue. The original drawing is 14"x17", but I cropped it a little to make it shorter. Prints are available.

Ultimately, this drawing didn't come out exactly as I had planned. I had great ideas of it being photorealistic and incredibly detailed. It started out well, but I hit a point where I felt compelled to rush. After a few hours of careful sketching, getting the eyes and noses just right, and starting the base coat of the black wolf, I kind of threw it away, so to speak. I'm not disappointed with how it came out, I am disappointed with how different it is from my expectations. Art really is effected by your state of mind. I should take my own advice about patience...

I think it also had a lot to do with the fact that I was not working directly from a photograph. I had several reference photos for positions, colors and shadows, but since none of them were mine, I couldn't copy them. I've decided I'm going to keep practicing with a few more of my own photos, then see how I do with an original composition.

So with that in mind, my next drawing will be a bengal tiger.