Jo_Long wrote: ↑Fri Jan 12, 2024 9:25 am
…this is perfect. Thank you. It gives me an excellent idea of the level of detail required when mapping out the layers etc.
It is, as I said, a map. Because I work on, and complete a small area at a time, it's easy to forget where I am in the drawing. So, my maps include every feature I can see in the reference - whether I eventually include that feature. Well, not
every feature, but every feature I can easily find again. Like crossroads and junctions and places of interest on a road map.
B32-LINE-DRAW-1000.jpg
I appreciate that this 1000px wide image isn't the easiest to see, so you can
download a bigger image here.
I also include important areas of shade that I hatch. Sometimes I mark essential growth directions with arrowheads. But this whole exercise brings another benefit too: I'm looking deeper and deeper into the subject. I'm finding anomalies that I can sort out now, instead of within my drawing later. I can carefully create perfect ellipses, where imperfect ones would ruin my drawing. Briefly, I have a much better understanding of my subject, and how I'm going to treat it, after the map is complete.
Although most guideline maps, especially for dogs with long flowing tresses, are far simpler, this particular map is quite complex. That said, it doesn't directly outline any individual lock of hair. The exception is the plotting of important
ends of locks, where those ends are wayward and add to the sense of reality. The hairs themselves are created as I reach, and begin drawing, each local area. I fade my guidelines to mere shadows and then redraw on top.
And, before I forget,
don't ever treat a map as carved in stone. Ultimately, you draw what best suits your drawing, rather than what the reference or map might say. And be aware that the map might not be perfect. As soon as I put these two together for you, I realised the right-hand eye in the map is incorrect. Fortunately, I must have noticed that and drew it correctly in the final drawing.
As I recall, the reference photo was a standard 6" x 3" enprint (15x10cm) in size, and the guidelines were drawn from the photo projected downwards by my Artograph DB300. Usually, the result would be a 10" x 8" (25x20cm) line drawing that is then put back into the Artograph, enlarged to my drawing paper's final size, and traced off on a sheet of tracing paper or Mylar. That, in turn, is used to transfer the line drawing to my drawing paper (watch the Advanced Method section of:
GUIDELINE BASICS - THE GRID METHOD).