US and UK workshop continuations

In fact your foliage possesses real depth and a good sense of reality, as does the cobbled ground.

My only slight criticism is that the wood on the wall above the duck is too grainy, as it attracts attention away from the duck. Wood rarely exhibits a strong pattern of grain and is most often very subtle and subdued. It's a secondary element in this study and would have benefitted from being played down.

I'm glad you slowed down to study and draw the Collie, as I could almost push my fingers into that coat. The duck too is well drawn, with just enough feather detailing to suggest an entire covering of feathers - which are rarely distinguishable as individual feathers on a duck, even if you have a live one in your hands. I like the way it's gently toned down too, so it reads correctly as a white duck in the shade.

Very well done! You should be proud of this drawing.

The stalking Collie is excellently studied. I can see you've really taken your time to study its make up and have rendered it piece by piece so you drew with understanding. Those layers of hair ring true. And that bright, steely gaze.... I wouldn't want to be the duck!

You should be very proud of this. I think you'll look back on it as a milestone drawing in your development. More power to your pencil!

Thanks you, Emily! I don't often critique work that's not included in a workshop, but I'm happy to do it for you.

You say you are a little disappointed with her right eye. I think you're being too hard on yourself but there is a little inconsistency between the eyes. The feeling I get is that the left eye is looking directly forwards but the right one is looking in a slightly different direction... but I'm not sure why. Although it's a very marginal misalignment and I wasn't aware of that until you mentioned it.

You say you also "struggled with the positioning of her face, as she isn't straight on" but you've done very well. However, there is a small problem in the muzzle that might account for your problems with the eyes. Her nose is twisted clockwise. If you lay a straight edge on top of her head and move it down, the roots of her ears should sit at the same angle, which they do, as do the eyes, but her nose (bases of the nostrils) are too level. That in turn misplaces the central "gap" below her nose and may have moved her mouth also. Or she might have simply twitched her nose as her photograph was taken and that's not helping you.

Other than that, I think you should be very pleased. You could try altering the features again but you risk overworking it, so I suggest you accept it as it is and move on with lessons learned.

First impression? Looking really good.

The leaves are looking great but you're trying too hard and losing depth. You have the foreground leaves correctly well-defined, but aim for some randomness behind, with varying degrees of tone to suggest depth.

The dark background looks great - it should really push Robbie forwards, but try to get his back looking as though it's deep in the shade - visible but overtly so.

The wood is looking great too. Suggestive of the texture and age without being dominant.

The eggs on the ground may need cast shadows adding from the leaves around them. It will tie them in better. Not too dark but enough so the shadows describe the roundness and place them correctly in space.

You're achieving a good deal on impact in this drawing and I'm looking forward to seeing it progress.
I suggest you take it out. I'm quite certain it will draw the eye away from Henrietta. I also suggest you give the side wood an overall layer of 2H, which take out any white content, diminish the contrasts, and "blend" it. Then when you draw Henrietta, make the drawing of her contrasty and sharp. That contrast between the sharp hen and smooth background will make her stand out and attract attention.


The post looks much better now that you're relying on line for the corner, and the darker wood on the side works better too.

I like the rounded feel of the wheel, but the top looks odd. It's a flat rim so the top should be flat too, but it slopes downwards to the right. Also the centre is too light and should conform to the lighting of the side of the henhouse, as should the central washer.

Also you are using line again - in this case to separate the rim from the centre. Personally, I'd adhere to the photo, which shows no hard edge between the two, just a curving surface that will be less distracting.

The shadows on the eggs work well, and they appear to be a part of scene now. But your foliage still troubles me, as it doesn't reflect a sense of reality. All the leaves are so sharply defined and the shadows so black that it lacks the subtlety and randomness of Nature. Basically, the drawing is too strong and dominant. That's correctable simply by toning those shadows down with Blu-Tack and maybe cutting some random marks in the shadows between the leaves, which you then push back into the shade.

The foliage by the hen looks much better in comparison. It's layered, not everything is immediately identifiable, and it's generally toned down and more subtle. I do like your ground and grass though - in case you were beginning to think I had a long list of "problems" :o)

If you want to begin work on Robbie, I'd start with his rear end - using that to define the outline of his head. You can use a degree of reflected light to slightly highlight the edge of his back, then gradually push that back into the shade until it reads correctly. Then I suggest you begin work on his head and work outwards.
The foliage is much better! There are weeds beneath the house and in front, just as you might expect there to be. None of the leaves shout at you... but now I think you've gone too far, so they appear to be further away than the hen's weeds.

Now go back in and strengthen a few selected shadows. But don't touch the leaves - one of the things that bothered me was that big leaf beneath the corner post that was just too detailed - I could see things I'd not expect to see at this distance.

Robbie is looking good! Black hair just right. White hair too light, but you're correct to leave that. Complete Robbie and then go back and tone that white down, as you need his front legs to refer to.

Try drawing his eye next and then work outwards a little. Next draw his ear and when you do, aim to produced a really black cast shadow under the right hand edge, which will make it pop forwards. Then go back and connect his eye to ear.

Where white meets black, remember the white hairs overlay the black. So think back to the negative drawing exercises and draw the black up into the white, with good crisp points to suggest they are shadows cast by the white.
It's more than OK, I think it's very good indeed! Have you worked on his white areas yet? His back foot is far too white considering the shade that it's in. But he's got a good coat texture, a lovely bright eye, great character, and his form is clear (which is not easy to achieve).

The nettles look much better now, although I prefer the top of the main clump (below Robbie) than I do lower down, which is still a bit contrasty - those black shadows look too dark for the lighting and they make the leaves stand out too starkly, so it looks less like a clump with depth.

I must mention the eggs alongside Robbie... love them!


Well, I would have done the reverse, because the hen is of equal importance to the story as the dog. I feel it's lacking any sense of presence. Ideally, you should be using some strong drawing for the hen, coupled with strong highlights too, and very sharp drawing, which will contrast with the softer drawing of the wood to give a good separation.

Well done, Mark. This has many good points, especially the Border Collie, which has such a wonderful and focussed gaze that I feel sorry for the inquisitive duck.

The henhouse is very well drawn and I like the way you've played down the importance of the junk inside it. You have established a pleasing dark interior too, although it could have been smoother and less contrasty, as those changes in contrast tend to attract my eye away from the action.

The foreground works exceptionally well, and the nettles present a good sense of a natural reality - identifiable yet definitely a background element that contains depth.

I'm not going to critique your Collie at all because it's near-perfect. But I must point out that the use of line to separate its back from the wooden door is definitely not something you should repeat. Once that line becomes evident, all feelings of reality are immediately discarded.

You duck is very well drawn too, with sufficient suggestions of feather to relay the surface without being over-detailed. Your choice of tone for the hole in the works very well to attract attention immediately to the duck, and helps the duck to stand out, despite its tonal values being similar to the wood behind.

Overall, an excellent attempt and I congratulate you.

I'm glad you decided to continue working on this, Norma. And I've not forgotten that you turned Robbie into your own dog :o)

Overall it's looking good. Your dog's face has a nice bright eye and he looks suitably happy, considering his fun with the eggs! You got the idea of negative drawing too with his white front overlaying his darker body. However, you've used line to outline your broken eggs, which is something you should work at removing in future. Just use the surrounding tones to define the edges instead of line, which has no place is a realistic drawing.

Your foliage could do mid-tones adding. You've correctly established the background first, using negative drawing, but all the leaves are a similar tones, which suggests they are all in the foreground. With no midground, your foliage is lacking depth. The wood is nicely studied and executed, as is the wheel, which has pleasingly accurate ellipses.

Finally, Henrietta, although tonally on the weak side, has bags of character and a nice sense of movement. She just needs some deeper shadows on her shaded side and beneath to lift her clear of the wood behind her. But I'm reluctant to suggest you touch her, as she has such character! :o)

I think I'd call this done, and then move on with lessons learned. You should be very pleased with this.

Thanks for letting me see this, Grahame - it was well worth the wait. There's so much I like about this and very little to criticise.

The wood is simply superb! It has age, character, and texture, yet it remains a secondary feature, as it should. Your attention to detail has paid well.

Robbie, is hairy (where hairy matters) but subtle, so it doesn't detract from his bright eye or smiling face. His eye is as perfect as it could be, working on this scale. You've also very subtly separated his body from the dark background, which works really well, and his white areas contain just enough detail but not too much - a very good balance.

Moving down to your "invented" weeds... Well done! This is your drawing and not mine, so changing those weeds was the right decision. And they work so well, especially the plant in the shade beneath the towing eye, which serves to give depth to the plants on either side. I like your ground too - believable grasses, stones to add balance and interest, and a dirt floor that does its job.

My only criticisms? The ellipse of the wheel is at fault down the right-hand edge. And Henrietta is not sufficiently strong. I feel you could have been more courageous with the range of tones you used for her - even the inclusion of one or two darker tones would help you lift her away from the background. Her textures are good, as are her eye, balance, and gaze, but she lack form. The use of darker tones around her shaded sides would increase her presence and improve her three-dimensional form.

It was good to have you with us again and I'm really pleased to see work of this quality.
Those stronger tones certainly help but I think it could do even more strengthening. I feel you need to get some good, strong tones in there to lift her away from the henhouse - especially in her head. Be careful to retain, or even brighten the highlights, so you don't lose her in the wall. Try selected areas such as her eye and nostril - strong tones to pull the eye into her. She shares equal importance with Robbie in telling the story, so she needs to be dominant.

However, as a drawing of a hen, she's looking good, with a nice sense of body and three-dimensional form. Her lightly-toned feet work very well. In fact they catch the eye and help to draw attention to her. And that raised left foot is dominant, which is important, as it relates movement and story substance.

I'd leave this now Grahame and move on with lessons learned, as I suspect the hen looks stronger in the original, and only you can judge that. But if you want to work on the hen again, I'm happy to critique it here.

There's very little about this that I'd personally want to do differently.

Your door to the left is nicely played down and I'll be interested to see how you handle the foliage in front of it. And the wood to the right is equally perfect - a lovely attention to detail with just a suggestion of grain and aging that won't attract attention away from Amy the dog, and which you are already using to define her outer edge.

Don't forget, when you approach the drawing of the hen, that this is a composite arrangement and the hen's lighting is at odds with the scene she is now in. Personally, I'd dispense with her tail feather and push her tail well into the shade. And I'd spend time emphasising her two main points of interest: her head, that relays her annoyance; and her raised foot and thigh, that signals movement or suspended movement. Her body needs three-dimensional shaping but I would suggest just a covering of feathers.

The wood is perfect, and overall I feel that you are correctly "living" each element rather than seeing it as a collection of tones and textures. Keep up the good work!

Thanks, Roger, and congratulations on completing this! It's not an easy drawing, and I've a few issues with its rendering, but there is also work to be admired here.

My first reaction is that you haven't sufficiently pushed the darks, except in the henhouse, which has resulted in a rather flat drawing. That will have made your life unnecessarily difficult, as you've forced yourself to work with a restricted palette of greys.

You also haven't given enough thought to where features exist within the drawing. For example, Louie the cat is underneath the henhouse and will be in its shade. The darker tones that the position requires would have served you admirably in not only hiding Louie but actually making him more easily understood once discovered by the viewer. The rear of the hen too is in the deep shade of the henhouse's interior, but here she is receiving to much light. Considerably darkening her tail and rear half would give her a better three-dimensional appearance and better describe the scene. That said, I think you've done a remarkably good job with the hen's feathering! They describe both her form and texture without being too overt.

Amy the dog is suffering a little from your restricted palette. I really like the way you've rendered her hair, but her tan facial colouring could have been drawn with more strength. That would have then allowed you to use a wider range of tones in her body while still retaining the white appearance.

Finally, the foliage looks good and reasonably realistic - especially just beneath the hen. I can see you've attempted to use negative drawing for the enigmatic weedy background, but your regular use of squares has resulted in a net-like appearance. You've got the scale correct, but try to vary the shapes, and then shade the remaining white with a variety of tones so you create planes of different depths. You'll add a lot more visual depth that way, and remember that some of those areas need to be pushed right back into the shade until they are barely discernible. Very little in Nature can be fully understood in that situation, so you need to engineer the same in your drawing.

I suggest you leave it alone, as it has many good points, and carry with you what you have learned into your next drawing. You've certainly spent time and effort on this and it shows to your credit.

Your partial drawing of the Dock weed against the door at the left is perfect! I'm looking forward to seeing that completed. The hen is beginning to take form too (don't be scared of those feathers!) and I love the straw around her feet.

Don't be afraid of tackling Amy the dog either! You may need to darken the wood behind her to better display her outline (great wood, by the way!). That will also make her white shine out with added intensity.

I'm really loving the way you are living in this study, which I can tell from your wonderful touches of detail. It's so obvious to me that you can see in your mind what you are drawing. Overall, there's much to be admired in this drawing - it just needs to be completed! :o)

Finished? Oh, yes! :o)

There is more work that could be done, but there always is, so I'd call this completed and take what you have learned with you into your next drawing. This is actually a difficult drawing to attempt and I think you've succeeded admirably. Quite a step forward for you.

You could have created even more depth in this drawing by increasing the strength of the tones were they would count - the shadows beneath the grass where it hangs over the bank behind Tom, Tom's own darker areas, and especially in the foreground grass at the bottom left. But there's a lot to be admired about this drawing too.

Your hazy background works really well - enough to intrigue the eye but sufficiently underplayed to not draw too much attention away from Tom. Your tree possesses depth and interest too. The dark branch against the lighter background one really adds a feeling of reality; and the Ivy growing around the trunk plays its part very well. The relative strength of tone used for the fence serves to throw the misty background into the distance. Even the grassy bank works well, especially because of its relatively simple design. Even your water, due to the reflections, looks wet!

Tom looks remarkably good. I really like the way you've built up his form using short strokes of hair instead of relying on shading or blocking in the darkest areas. I feel that you were experiencing every inch of him as you recreated him beneath your pencil. I know you would have liked longer to have worked on him, but you've done a great job in the available time. You should be very pleased indeed with this!

The wood of the wall looks wonderful! It's woody, aged, and possesses bags of character without it overpowering the drawing or Amy the dog. And those relatively dark tones are obviously assisting you with displaying Amy's outline.

My Louie (the cat) is so lifelike I can feel his claws digging into my shoulder! :o) You may need to darken him later so he correctly recedes into the shade beneath the henhouse, but that's a job for later. At this stage, avoid "adjusting" anything that you cannot make a firm decision about. Those Dock weeds that you're not sure about might look fine at a later stage, so complete them as far as you can and return to them, if you need to, much later. The same applies to Louie.

You should be very pleased with the way this is progressing. I know I am! Tackle the grass in the same way that we did the straw at the workshop. Establish the deep background shadows first - unless, if you wish to, first outline any prominent foreground blades to isolate them. Now you'll have control of which blade appears to go behind or in front of another. And any outlined foreground ones can be drawn to tell the eye that everything behind them is also to be read as grass. I hope that helps. Incidentally, the wheel is looking magnificent! A lovely solid sense of form and texture.

As for grounding the dog... I agree that it needs doing. You have two problems with that front foot: first, you've introduced a shadow that appears to be beneath it; and second, that shadow falls across the leaf that he's standing on, which reinforces the beneath feeling. I think you missed a golden opportunity here. Rather than have that leaf flat on the ground for the dog to stand on, imagine instead that it was curving down to the ground, so only the tip was actually touching the earth. Now when the dog stands on it, the leaf is most likely to go down to the ground behind her paw, and then spring up again as it emerges on the other side, before finally dropping to touch the ground again. The forward half of the leaf would then be raised to break through the bottom line of his foot. Give its shading a really good highlight to emphasise the rounded form at that point, so you make it visually obvious that the dog and leaf are connected. That interaction will ground him. I've used a similar device here:

Also, you have a second leaf by his paw that, according to its cast shadow, is raised in the central section. BUT, if I'm reading that correctly, it's under his paw - so his paw must be raised off the ground. In fact the tip of his paw should be behind the raised portion of that leaf. If you correct those things and then strengthen the intensity of the cast shadows beneath those leaves, I believe you will succeed.

The weeds below the dog's head are really well drawn, but you could have varied the tones a little more. There are not many mid-tones, or leaves that disappear at an angle back into the shadows. But I'm nit-picking now :o) Overall it's a lovely drawing!

Starting top left, the cast shadows of your big weeds work wonderfully well to give a great feeling of depth. That can be a difficult area for some, and you've done really well.

My first impression (allowing for the limitations of your scanner) is that you've created a lovely depth to what is essentially almost a single-plane composition. The subtle highlighting of the left hand door and the right-hand wall towards the centre, pulls both forwards, giving a sense of recession. In that respect, this is one of the best drawings I've seen.

The hen is nicely buried in the shade of the henhouse interior, throwing focus on her head and raised foot, which is exactly as it should be. Those two elements tell more of the "story" than the rest of her body.

Amy the dog is well-grounded and the look in her eye is perfect. It's a pity your scanner failed to pick up the lighter tones of her body, because I feel she would look good. You've used the weeds behind her to push her forwards and define her outline without them attracting attention to themselves, which is very good.

Moving to bottom left: the negative drawing of your grass has worked wonderfully well, and I suspect your nettles look good in reality. I'm less sure about Louie the cat, who I think could have been pushed a little further back into the shade. But you've done a good job with him.

And to end, your foreground is nicely vague, with just enough suggestion of detail so it does its job without causing a distraction.

Overall, it's a lovely drawing that I think you should be very proud of!

The first thing that struck me on seeing this, is the good use you've made of contrast. However, the very light door at the left hand side immediately pulls my eye that way, which is a pity. I feel you could have made more use of the big weed, coupled with cast shadows and a darker door, to prevent that from happening. That weed actually exists as a device to steer the eye back into the drawing, so its demotion to a mere suggestion foils that plan.

Moving across: your hen has a great feeling of three-dimensional form. The tail feather (below her beak) should be considerably darker, as it's deep inside the shady house - or it could even have been removed altogether. That said, you've used contrast and highlight very well to throw our attention on to her all-important head and raised foot. She also looks feathery without the feathers overly-attracting our attention.

The wooden wall and the rusty wheel are very good indeed. As is Amy the dog, who looks delightfully hairy and terrier-like, with a keen look in her eye. Why have you not completed her left paws? They are receiving the same light as her right paws, so they should contain a similar degree of shadowing and grounding. You've done very well with her wiry hair and her solid form, and her front and head are excellent.

The nettles below the hen are equally excellent, with strong tones where they work best and a nice feeling of depth. And a use of detail where it counts, which further emphasises the depth.

The negatively drawn grasses look good but I feel Louie the cat is just a little too obvious. You could have pushed him further into the shade beneath the henhouse. However, this is your drawing and not mine, so I'm not expecting you to see this the way that I do.

Try to curb your enthusiasm for erasing in future and think more deeply about each area before you begin :o)

I think you've done a very creditable job and the time you've spent on it has paid handsomely. Well done!

Well, Francine, at least I can't accuse you of rushing this! :o)

The image you sent is out of focus at the bottom and, I'm certain, lighter than it should be - so I've attempted to correct both faults. I apologise if the result is not close to your original.

I can see you've spent a lot of time and patience on this, and the result was worth it. Your dark weeds with their cast shadows against the left hand door work really well to stop the eye leaving the picture and steer it back towards the hen.

Your hen is wonderfully feathery, you got rid of that distracting tail feather, and the focus is definitely on her all-important head. And the highlight on her raised foot adds a lot to telling the story. I like the dense, dark background too, which adds depth to this drawing. However, I would have liked to have seen the same dark tones introduced into the weeds below, to strengthen their form and balance the drawing. It's a bit top heavy without equally dark tones used elsewhere.

The texture of your wood is excellent, as is Amy the dog. You've done wonderfully well with Amy's coat. I can almost run my fingers through that wiry hair. I like her cast shadow too (which most people omit, in error) as it truly makes her a part of the scene and connects her to the ground.

I think your weeds and grasses probably look really good, but I can't get them into focus enough to appreciate them. They appear to have good definition and sharp edges, and a real sense of depth and recession.

Louie the cat is hidden well too, although you could have hidden him even more by toning him down. Sometimes it's good to find something later in a drawing, rather than having it all immediately obvious.

My overall impression is that this drawing is something you should be justifiably proud of. Very well done!

Louie the cat is well hidden, although, as he's in deep shade, you could have toned down his white. Sometimes it's good to let the eye stumble upon something later, rather than laying it out clearly. The weeds surrounding him are excellent! You've used negative drawing well, but never be afraid to push the rear-most leaves back into the shade. The grass is also excellently drawn and very believable, as are the rocks - and the bone! And your rusty wheel is - well...rusty - and with accurate ellipses.

I love the look in Amy's eye - alert and curious but not intimidating. You've done really well with her coat too, and successfully created tones for her tan markings that don't conflict with the shadowed areas. I can feel the texture of her wiry hair, and I like the way you've grounded her feet, and her cast shadow, which is often omitted.

Overall, with the exception of the unfortunate perspective of the floor, this is an excellent drawing that does you, and the time you spent on it, much credit. Well done!