WIP Black Tailed Deer

[JayS]

This is a slow end of two days ago. Sorry for the late post.
Look at the lower right corner. You can see totally different grass. What I learned doing this little bit is that I like the similarity between the foreground and the background. 2) I found it interesting to draw more negative spaces. On the left side I was drawing positive grass and filling in shadows. On the right I was working backwards. Drawing in-between the grass. This led me to thinking about how to push some blades of grass back, increase the empty spaces at the bottom or grass clumps and think about grass as clumps instead of one large field. This is a complete departure from the reference. 3) I don't like the fact that I've had to erase so much. My work will be much better if I can do a better job of foresight. 4) I've been thinking about the ways in which I can add more variety in the grass. I've spent a couple of hours gazing at Mike's drawing of grass that he posted earlier in this series. Thanks Mike! Look for more variety as this progresses.

[Mike Sibley]

On the left side, I was drawing positive grass and filling in shadows. On the right, I was working backwards. Drawing in-between the grass.

Please forgive short posts at present - I'm having to write in between migraines. So, briefly: The problem with the left-hand side is that ALL the blades are foreground. That makes them very dominant and creates little to no depth.

The right-hand side should work better, but I believe you're over-thinking it - you've lost the natural randomness of growth direction that the left-hand side has. Ideally - to my mind, you can disagree - you should draw the background to define the foreground stalks, then you can play around with creating various depths for the foreground. You can also outline the foreground stalks first, if that helps. I often do.

So, I think it works like this for me (I'm not suggesting this is the only way):

• Picture or outline any foreground blades of grass in the immediate area in which you're working. Tiny areas are better than one big area (they're easier to control).
• Ignore the foreground blades and define the midground blades by drawing the deep shade between them. That shade is the absolute background - most probably black. I tend to draw a little random black shape and let that suggest the surrounding shapes that create bits of blades of grass. Boy, this is difficult to explain!
• Now you have a solid background, and white midground and foreground blades.
• Push the midground white blades back into the shade - NO foreground values - but add variety. So some are so deep you can hardly see them and others are just behind the foreground blades.
• Finally, repeat for the foreground blades, but keep those lighter - no midground values.

I don't have video of what I'm talking about. But... take a look at the reeds (begins at 3:55) in NEGATIVE DRAWING part 1 - that employs the exact same procedure but on a larger scale. However, in that video, I completed the entire midground before moving forward. I would NOT do that when actually drawing. I'd fully create that midground as I progressed from area to area. And I might create the foreground in parts at any time, or even all of it at the end; whichever makes most logical sense at the time.

Finally, don't over-think it. Just let it flow. Draw what you'd expect to see if you were looking at this in Nature. And if you're not quite sure what that is... go and look at grass, and preferably sketch it too.

[PogArtTi]

JayS you're more talented than you may think
You just in search of your FLOW that Mike's mentioned above...
I bet once you get employ that flow to work for you, every art will be brilliant!
You've got a great patience already, so just practice, enjoy your arts, don't overthink it like Mike says, and everything will be just easier achievable for you.
I guess - do some loose watercolour art maybe?
Have a fun painting anything with loose flowing brush strokes?
Such different exercise may let you free up your hidden flow sooner?

[JayS]

Greetings Mike and Pogart,
Thank you for your thoughts. Overthinking seems to be one of my weaknesses. At this point I'm just digging deeper and deeper. Better quit digging. One of my frustrations is that I've drawn much better grass on prior works...but I seem to have forgotten how. So I'm going to call this one good for now and work on some other things...like the snowy fawn.

Then we will see what comes out in the wash.

[PogArtTi]

Good decision I think!
This is what I'd do - I'd start new work instead, rather than digging into the same art for too long...
You learnt the lesson already, and have spent lots of time too - lets move on, and impress us with another art

[JayS]

PogArt, I hope that someday we get to meet face to face.

[PogArtTi]

PogArt, I hope that someday we get to meet face to face.