"Peekin' Duck" by MIke Sibley

[Mike Sibley]

I'm reminded by Linda's "Rat Race" title - and the double-meaning she conjured up - that the approach appeals to me too.

This is "Peekin' Duck". And there was intended to be a second (never produced) entitled "Bomb Bay Duck" (A Goose coming in to land over another Springer Spaniel).

Peekin-Duck.jpg

"Peekin' Duck" by Mike Sibley

Take one photograph of an English Springer Spaniel in front of a fireplace, a photo of a boat (which I wanted to draw but it wasn't quite right for my Newfoundland study "The Turning Tide") and a couple of personal album photos of two of our ducks and you get... "Peekin' Duck".

[Laurene]

I love the expression on the Springer! You and Linda make it look so easy to turn a little play on words into an enchanting illustration , and of course it isn't!!

[LindasPencils]

love it Mike. But most impressed with your understanding of shadows and how the ducks' shadow would fall across the side of the dinghy. That takes a bit of knowledge and work to get right!

[melblfk]

Great to know how you put all this together. This will be very helpful.

[Mike Sibley]

But most impressed with your understanding of shadows and how the ducks' shadow would fall across the side of the dinghy. That takes a bit of knowledge and work to get right!

Well, Yes and No

Mike's Rule #1: Only include shadows that help the story. Including them all causes confusion - and demotes the importance of the shadows that help the story.

Mike's Rule #2: You're going to like this one You do not need to be accurate. You only need to look as though you know what you're doing

In other words, the shadow needs to be telling us something but doesn't necessarily need to conform to the general direction or quality of the light.

In this drawing, there's a direct and instant connection between the duck and the boat. The shadow within the back of the boat agrees with the lighting direction, as does the shade under the hull. That the boat's shadows are soft-edged and the duck's is hard edged doesn't matter at all. I needed the duck' shadow to be the dominant one, and very clearly understood.

The left-hand duck is casting a shadow on the right-hand duck, and probably should cast some shadow on the boat... but that is overcomplicating it. It will demote the right-hand duck's shadow in importance.

So, you can lie.

But you can't blatantly lie - such as creating two light sources in opposing directions. But you can bend the truth.

The way I look at it is this : As your eye travels over the scene it's looking locally for understanding. When it sees the duck's sharp shadow it's not looking at any of the soft ones. And vice versa. Stand back so you can see all of them - and diverse details like those become lost with distance.