DrawWithMike.net

I wonder if I could ask for an opinion on this drawing? It is in coloured pencil on Fabriano 5 watercolour paper.

I drew it, with permission, from a friend's photo. However, it was taken in a British wildlife park and the animal was on grass. I wanted to make it more authentic so attempted to draw a dry dusty ground underfoot. I am not sure that was successful, although I like the elephant.

awwww.
beautifully drawn baby, fluffy and cuddleworthy. This is a lovely work.
two comments:

• I feel that the ground he is walking on seems less well handled - you do say you are unsure of it. I get the impression you rushed it or did not quite understand how to portray the grass and dirt so you have rushed with some back and forth pencil. Mike references how to draw grass in his videos - but remember that all parts of your drawing are important, even the bits that don't 'seem' important must be drawn with the same care and consideration as the best part.

• The area where the tail overlaps the rear leg - the tip of the tail is a brighter orange. I understand that this is the fluffy end of the tail, but it stands out to me. Probably because this seems to be the only place you have used this colour in such concentration that it stands out to me. I would suggest toning it down a bit, or else adding/intensifying the same brighter colour elsewhere on the animal

These two small issues do not detract from the overall beauty of this drawing. I am only suggesting them as possible things to consider in your next work, to improve your already excellent technique further.

He's sweet. Beautiful colors too.

Thank you Linda. You picked up on the two areas that I am not happy with. The tail was a brighter colour in the photo, so I tried to recreate it, but I feel, like you, that it sticks out like a sore thumb. I will try to grey it down somewhat.

The ground is more of a problem. I am not sure how to make it look more like dry dusty earth or sand. Perhaps the problem is that I can't decide which of those two it should be? Any suggestions for how to tackle it more realistically would be very welcome.

Thank you also, clmetzger.

Regards,

Carol

The ground is more of a problem. I am not sure how to make it look more like dry dusty earth or sand. Perhaps the problem is that I can't decide which of those two it should be?

Oh Cazza, you do ask the difficult questions! But perhaps you have answered the question yourself when you state that you cannot decide whether you want dusty earth or sand. You do need a clear idea and visualisation of what you are trying to achieve. Mikes videos are always a good start - I cannot remember one where he explains this dusty effect, but the 'Divide to Control' has good information on creating foliage.

I don't think you need to fiddle around with this drawing further, it is lovely as it is. If you can tone down the tail a bit I believe no one but a picky-picky like me would see any issue with the ground!

Next time, why not try using a paper stump? Practice first as I am not sure how well your colour pencils will smudge. You would not need to do much colour, just move it around and 'dust' it up a bit. This attached is a slice from a work I did years ago in graphite where I approached the same dust problem using a paper stump. (I haven't put the entire image up as it is one of the most theived works I have ever done - people have stolen it for letterheads, logos, websites, tatoos and even a tee shirt at Target! I cannot stop it, but now I usually have a watermark on all important works I post - or else they are low quality images with poor lighting!)

I like your elephant very much, it's very life like!

Precious! You captured that baby peach fuzz perfectly!

First, this is finished. It's OK. Don't touch it

Lovely elephant! I agree about the orange around the tail. It's a distraction and including something "because it was in the reference" is no reason to reproduce it. You need to do whatever is best for your drawing.

I think the dust is 90% successful. Bordering on 95% The 5% that doesn't help is the unnecessary grass. It's only half-formed. And it doesn't perform any useful function... except one - it adds interest with its variation of value. That could have been as easily achieved by... well, just varying the value in patches.

The tufts of grass aren't immediately noticeable, but they're vertical across the horizontal shading of the dust, and their sharpness draws further attention to them, which distracts. And that sharpness is not entirely natural within the dust that's being thrown up. Next time mow the grass first

Thank you very much, Mike. I have put the drawing to one side for now, and may revisit it to revise the tail later. I do see what you mean about the vertical grasses distracting. However, you are right in that messing with that now might make things worse. Lesson learned.

Carol

I love this baby elephant with all it's changes in value and the colors used. I especially noticed and just love all the little hairs on its body.