Gwens Girls

[kwheller]

This drawing was done on Strathmore Bristol 500 plate with Staedtler leads (primarily 2B to 2H). This work is for an elderly lady who owned these 4 cats and they are like children to her. The mother cat is the black one (center) and she is surrounded by her 3 tortoiseshell daughters. This year, they all would have been 15 years old. Unfortunately, 2 cats (the ones in the back) died last year. She wanted a drawing with the four cats. Although I have known all of the cats, I didn't have too many pictures of the two cats who have died. This is an emotional work to do, and I am trying to get it just right for her. Any suggestions and comments are welcome.

[kwheller]

I meant to add that the overall drawing is lighter with more contrast than shown here. I've been having difficulty getting a good photo for submission due to lighting issues. Any comments greatly appreciated.

[JayS]

I like how you've separated the cats by using different values to define each cat. Good job. Take a hard look at the left eye of the cat in the back. My first impression is that the eye is tilted very slightly to the right and would look a little better tilted a tiny bit to the left. It may not be worth fixing as it a very small thing.

I've had the same problem with lighting. A salesman with Mike's camera in Denver suggested using 3 flash units. One a master and two slaves positioned half way along the side of the image. MY problem with this solution was that two additional flash units would run about $900.00 I went with a much cheaper solution. I added two led lights with reflector umbrellas. Even with this I find I have to underexpose aby about two stops to get the pure white background. Then the drawing looks a little light. So I adjust that using curves in photoshop. It isn't perfect but it's progress.

[kwheller]

I like how you've separated the cats by using different values to define each cat. Good job.
Take a hard look at the left eye of the cat in the back.

Thanks so much for your comments. I did work hard to separate the cats. I will reexamine the left eye today and decide if I want to change it and appreciate you pointing that out. Thank you for sharing how you are taking a photo of your drawings. Initially, I used a copy machine to avoid the problems I am having taking a photo. However, that doesn't always work due to the size of the drawing or fear of smudging. Since I am only taking a photo for purposes of posting on this site, I think the reflector umbrellas make sense, but I probably won't make the investment. I'll keep experimenting with the lighting. Also, your idea of using Photoshop (or in my case Affinity) to adjust the photo for this site is a good idea. (I use Affinity all the time to examine my drawing and help determine adjustments, but I've never used it to assist with posting a better representation of what I've drawn).Thanks again.

[JayS]

Good luck. The reflector lights were around $165.00 US dollars.

[kwheller]

Good luck. The reflector lights were around $165.00 US dollars.

Thanks for the information and pricing of the reflector lights. It is something to consider. It's frustrating not getting a good photo of what you've drawn. (Although that won't make a different regarding the quality of my drawings. I haven't drawn cats before so its been challenging).

[Mike Sibley]

I meant to add that the overall drawing is lighter with more contrast than shown here. I've been having difficulty getting a good photo for submission due to lighting issues. Any comments greatly appreciated.

Photography... I always found that using natural light was the best - preferably on an overcast day, with the drawing flat on the ground, so I could photograph it from above.

Other than that, I can't help much, because many people use their phone cameras these days... and I don't. Which is to say, I can set up my DSLR to take good photos, but phones (I think) tend to favour auto settings.

If you have a digital camera, purchase a GREY CARD. Cameras read white as an 18% grey. So, you lay the grey card on the drawing, zoom in until you can see only the card, then make a note of your camera's settings. Now, remove the grey card, set your camera to the settings you made a note of, and take your photo. Your camera will now be correctly white balanced.

Or you try to correct it later in Affinity Photo. I've not tried too hard.... I reduced it to greyscale (to remove all colour). Then used the Levels tool (CTRL+L). Use the histogram, or hold down ALT and Levels will show you what you are altering. I reduced grey to white until it began to affect the cats. Then I used the Dodge Brush Tool (O) with a big fuzzy brush to lighten the rest of the background. That achieved this:

KATHY-Gwens-Girls.jpg

I'll comment on the drawing separately.

[Mike Sibley]

The mother cat is the black one (center) and she is surrounded by her 3 tortoiseshell daughters.

OK.... Now, first, it works as it is. Don't spoil it by listening to me

But...

I wouldn't have known the mother cat was black, or not tortoiseshell, if you hadn't mentioned it. So, I'm going to suggest that you darken mother. More importantly, try to find an area that might be in full shade, and that is possibly really black. If you establish that, mother cat will now contain values not seen in the others. They'll look lighter; she'll look darker, or even black.

I had a quick play with the Burn Tool (O) in Affinity Photo:

KATHY-Gwens-Girls-dark.jpg

I decided the area most in shade was just above the bottom cat's back, and that the light ruff around her neck was far too light. I darkened her face a little, too, except where detail mattered (like around her eyes and mouth).

Not only that, but I think mother could be even darker. And I'm not saying this is correct, simply that it separates her from the tortoiseshell cats. It's really a decision you need to make before you began drawing.

[kwheller]

Photography... I always found that using natural light was the best - preferably on an overcast day, with the drawing flat on the ground, so I could photograph it from above.

Yes, I see that the natural light is much better. The natural light eliminates that odd tint to the photo that was occurring with the lighting sources I have been using. I did use natural light on this photo of next revision (although I must admit the sun was setting so I think it will be even better when the sun is up (and overcast). My next post will have that photo and my revisions and questions.

[kwheller]

I wouldn't have known the mother cat was black, or not tortoiseshell, if you hadn't mentioned it. So, I'm going to suggest that you darken mother. More importantly, try to find an area that might be in full shade, and that is possibly really black. ...It's really a decision you need to make before you began drawing.

Thanks so much for your helpful feedback. Yes, I do think she looks much better being darker. (Her mane is actually a little browner, but she is basically black so thanks for pointing out she wasn't looking black).

So, let me see if I am understanding the principles of drawing darker. Since we put down our darks first, I should have initially made the black cat darker to start out with (in the area of full shade). However, I misjudged how dark to make her and I had drawn her black coat with 2B and burnished with HB (hard over soft, per your wonderful video). Unfortunately, I didn't make it dark enough initially. So now, when I apply a 4 B over it, it actually lightens (soft over hard). Also, if I just add more 2B (without the 4B) it doesn't seem to darker either and I think that is due to the plate finishing not having much tooth?? So to correct this, I sprayed the drawing today with Winsor & Newton Professional Workable Fixative. It would then take the 4B and then I burnished with 2B. I'm not certain it looks darker in the photo, but it does in real life.

I also made a few additional changes such as narrowing the 2 white whiskers the black cat has. (I was too afraid to do indenting, so did negative drawing instead). The cat at 2 pm is a Tortoiseshell, but her fur on her back is almost black (but not as black as the black cat), so I darkened it a bit. I plan on spraying this drawing with workable fixative one more time once I am sure I am done with it. (I keep seeing little things here and there I want to fix. Comments are welcome).

The client is hoping to have it for Valentine's Day. I am not going to charge for it since it contains her 2 cats who have died and she still feels grief. I hope she likes the drawing and finds some comfort.