NEGATIVE DRAWING: Part 2

[Mike Sibley]

More progress but this is taking faaaaaar longer than I anticipated.

On the one hand, as Laurene mentioned, every drawing deserves the time it needs for a successful completion - and on the other, I'm painfully aware how this is delaying the release of the next video.

As for the video: all the animations and graphics are complete and on the timeline. I still have the voice-over to record and edit, and I'm recording audio "notes" as I draw. They will have to be re-recorded because... I find I can't draw and talk at the same time. Everything I say is full of long pauses

Back to the studio now and Day 11 about to commence.

DAY 10:

DAY-10.jpg

[Mike Sibley]

DAY 11: More progress yesterday. Two leaves a day appears to be the norm at present.

It's the subtlety in the shading that's taking the time. The difference between achieving a sense of realism and "drawing" is so knife-edge that I'm having to build up and erase back constantly until I feel it's looking correct. Assuming it is looking correct, of course. I'd welcome any and all critiques and observations on this. Right now, I'm so involved with it that it's not easy to see the "bigger picture".

DAY-11.jpg

At this rate, I hope to have the entire drawing completed by Wednesday or Thursday.

[Laurene]

It’s magical to see this develop Mike! At first, I wondered how such a busy background could work, but now I can see how the stage is set for our butterfly.

I think that all of the long hours of building up such a range of value, including black, will pay off when the butterfly is rendered. From what I can see only the butterfly contains the lightest values, so he will pop right off the page! Although you’ve given the viewer a whole hidden world to explore, there is. no doubt what the main subject is.

I know you will be adjusting parts of the foliage later, but since you did ask, my eye is being pulled right now by the stem just above the butterfly, between the antennae.

Thanks so much for sharing your process with us!

[Mike Sibley]

From what I can see, only the butterfly contains the lightest values, so he will pop right off the page!

That's the plan Fortunately, in Nature leaves do not contain white (other than key highlights on drops of dew), so that permits me to reserve white for the butterfly. So far, everything has had at least one light layer of 2H with the express purpose of dulling any white content.

I know you will be adjusting parts of the foliage later, but since you did ask, my eye is being pulled right now by the stem just above the butterfly, between the antennae.

Thanks for that. I can see that now. I remember at the time thinking I needed to bridge the gap that was occurring between the top row of leaves and the butterfly. Now, I'm also aware that quite a lot of the background needs to pushed further back into the shade. Also, there are too many "organic shape" features in the extreme background. I'll probably combine some of those (with a judicious application of Blu-Tack) and create an alternative bridge to replace that distracting stem.

I'm having a good day today. It's almost 9pm, and I should get another hour and a half of drawing done today. That should complete ALL the foliage!

[Mike Sibley]

The annoying and distracting stem, that Laurene drew my attention to, has been replaced by a midground leaf. It does the same job of bridging the dark gap between the top foliage and the butterfly, but in a more subtle manner.

Sections of the background have been pushed deeper into the shade.

And work had begun on the butterfly.

So I can continue the work unbroken today, I'm not showing the complete image, because I don't want to upset the video camera settings, or the placement of the drawing,

Today is butterfly day. Will I complete it? Possibly... But I've no doubt parts of the background will need to tonally adjusted to balance the entire image.

DAY 13:

DAY-13.jpg

[Mike Sibley]

Progress is slow but I'm nearing completion.

It's also SPOT THE ERROR time. A major error that shouldn't have occurred... but it did. I was so focussed on one element during the design/composition stage that a completely natural change in its appearance was completely overlooked...

...and I'm saying no more than that

DAY 15:

DAY-15.jpg

As with the previous problem, I'm treating this one as being a very positive experience to show how such problems can be overcome. Personally, I'm fairly pleased with the repair... but I'd welcome any comments - good or bad! I plan to complete the drawing today (Day 16) and will not be able to make changes after that - because I'll be editing the existing video footage.

This will be TWO videos, and possibly THREE. One - the next to be released - will be Part 2 of Negative Drawing. Then I'll release a video of the drawing from beginning to end, with all the explanations, assistance, tips and tricks, and solutions to problems along the way. Plus (this might be a separate video) a complete description of how it was put together from a variety of image sources.

[Mike Sibley]

I'll return to the drawing this evening to see if any changes need to be made before fixing it - but it is now complete.

I'm assuming by the lack of help and comments that you're all happy with it

If not, NOW is the time to mention whatever it is I've screwed up - or just needs to be tweaked.

Today, I completed the wings and redrew the body until, I believe, it no longer vies with the wings for interest.

Tomorrow, I'll wade through the 16 days of video and audio and begin to put the final sequences of the Part 2 video together. Then I need to record the overall voice-over and retime everything on the video timeline to match it. I don't know how long that will take, but I will be as speedy as I can be. I'm very aware that this release is delayed, so I have no wish to delay it further.

So, please let me know your thoughts on this - especially if you see something that needs to be altered. I'm so involved in the drawing that it's difficult for me to view it objectively.

DAY 16 - and completed:

DAY-16.jpg

[Laurene]

Wonderful finish Mike! It’s been such a privilege to be able to follow along with you. Other than the expertly executed technical side of this, your use of light and shadow to tame that intimidating tangle of leaves into a natural background that complements rather than competes with the butterfly is a master class in itself. Most people draw with pencils. You paint with graphite. No painting could have a richer range of values than the one you’ve created here.

It's also SPOT THE ERROR time. A major error that shouldn't have occurred... but it did. I was so focussed on one element during the design/composition stage that a completely natural change in its appearance was completely overlooked...

...and I'm saying no more than that

Ok. I tried. I really did!!! Now I'm appealing to the teacher in you. Please show us!!!! How else will we ever learn!?!?

[Mike Sibley]

OK. I tried. I really did!!! Now I'm appealing to the teacher in you. Please show us!!!! How else will we ever learn!?!?

It was a rookie error Terri and I were photographing Dragonflies in Florida (Clearwater, to be precise) and up popped this butterfly. As I can never resist an opportunity that presents itself, I took six photos.

But....

At some point, my original butterfly flew away and was surreptitiously replaced by a less-than-perfect model.

In the early stages of composition, I removed the original butterfly (it's a White Peacock) from the foliage and replaced it with another - unknowingly, the second-rate interloper. In my defence, I don't know the butterfly well, and it looks nothing like our UK Peacock butterfly. So, what I failed to notice was.......

....a large chunk of the rear of each hind wing is missing! It had broken away so symmetrically that the loss wasn't obvious.

It wasn't until I was drawing that wing - assisted by a non-wing-challenged butterfly that I suddenly realised what I was about to draw, didn't exist.

Once I'd picked myself up off the floor and got my heart rate almost back to normal... I decided to use the error positively. The video will show you that I used an unrelated butterfly to supply the missing parts. And how the existing dark shadow in the drawing was cut into and erased, to create room for the new tail extension.

Butterfly-tail.jpg

I fixed the drawing late last night, so that's it... drawing completed. Now all I've got to do is rewrite and record the voice-over; alter the timing of everything already on the timeline to suit; and then edit 16 days of drawing down to about 10 minutes to complete the video

And once released, I'll be working on a full video of just this drawing - all the trials, triumphs, and tricks (from composition to completion) - and the next Creative video, which will feature using Contrast and Mood.

[Laurene]

Oh my! My heart would have stopped too! That is a really seamless correction though. No one would be the wiser. The best lesson is seeing how even a serious adjustment like this can be handled with a little thought and planning. Thanks for the explanation Mike!