Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Gentle Giant

African elephant graphite pencil drawingThis is my first strictly graphite drawing in a while. I thought the skin texture of the elephant needed something a little grayer. It was a little different for me, drawing an animal without fur or feathers, but I like how this came out much better than the rhino from a few months ago.

Drawing wrinkles is tricky. You can't get them too dark, or they look too deep. You can't just draw a line, either. Depending on the orientation of the wrinkle with respect to the light source, there is usually a dark side going into it, then a light side coming out where the light hits. You have to get both just right (and consistent) for it to look real.

I used mostly the HB, 4B and 9B pencils with the tortillon for blending. I also used the indent technique for the eyelashes, to make sure they stood out lighter than the background.

The original is for sale and prints are available.

6 comments:

ButlerWifey said...

I LOVE this Heather! I can feel the elephant's skin, and the eyelashes are awesome too! Just amazing.

Anonymous said...

Hi Heather,

Great blog and excellent work - keep it up!

Giles Illsley

Heather Ward said...

Thanks, ButlerWifey. :)

Heather Ward said...

Thank, Giles! I love your work, too.

artis1111 said...

Love this one. Kathy

Heather Ward said...

Thank you, Kathy!