I hesitated to upload this WIP because it still need much more work to blend the does with their background, especially below them. The sky & ground are done with graphite powder. I used mainly a soft cotton cloth to apply, but also tissue paper. I think that the ground should be predominantly d...

I can’t imagine how much patience it took to draw your background! I think that needles at the top right look very very convincing. Really nicely done! I like the composition very much too. I think it may just need more mid tones, but I know you’re still working on it I don’t know anything about the...

Thanks Jay. It’s funny how such a small change really got my attention too. It changes the feeling completely. There’s much more tension I think this way.

Thanks Mike. Once I decided to have them all looking in the same direction, it all started to make sense to me. I tilted their heads to look exactly in the same direction, and to exaggerate the pyramid shape. I thought you might like to see the original photo. Pretty bad shot, but it always stayed w...

Here's another update. This third doe will help to give a sense of direction to the whole drawing (I hope )

Hi Mike. I know what you mean. I have a few more of these that only live in my imagination. Maybe someday they'll make it to paper. I'm sorry I didn't give a better idea of where I'm going with this. I had so much trouble scanning!! I think this is a little better, although my guidelines are still p...

Here's a quick update. I completed the first doe and started on the second, although I'll probably adjust shadows and highlights as I continue.
Sorry about the poor scan quality. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but the pencil strokes are not showing up in the scan.

It's been a very long time since my last graphite drawing, but this one has been nagging at me for so many years, I wanted to give it a go. Several years ago (begore digital photography!) I captured 3 does lying down together. There were 2 mature does and a yearling. The photo isn't of much use in t...

Oh my, your work is masterful! Each one of these holds my attention for different reasons. The technique is stunning, but more to the point is the fact that each one evokes such strong emotions. Thank you for sharing with us! I’m surprised that I haven’t seen your work before. I’m certainly very hap...

Ah, no worries Mike. I think you touched a lot of us who have lost animals we were close to. It’s especially painful when they’ve been with us for so long. Still, as sad as it is, we would do it all over again given a chance. They bring so much into our lives. They become part of our families.