Work In Progress...........completed....I think

Stage 5

Well, it's now just short of 2am and I've finished.....I think!!

I've spent another 7 hours, in two sessions throughout the day and a third late this evening. I'm a little tired now, so I'm going to leave it for now and put it away for the next couple of days and then I'll have another look at it with fresh eyes. I find this helps to me to see anything I'm missing at the moment because I'm "too far in".....unable to see the wood for the trees...that sort of thing.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you've enjoyed this little insight into the evolution of a drawing. I've enjoyed doing this work in progress.....might think about doing another one soon.....just have to find a subject.

Work in progress......the next installment

STAGE 4

Here is where I'm up to now...... (9 hours in total....so far.)

As you can see, I have laid down a lot of the face shading....I'm still thinking I need to go darker, but needed some kind of reference point other than the eye, so I've left the shading and started on the halter. Actually I was glad to stop the shading of the face....was starting to become tedious and my hand was starting to ache.
From the last stage to this took approximately 4 hours (not in one sitting I might add). You just can't go too quickly with the shading or you end up with marks you may want to erase, but can't. I do a layer, sit back and have a good long look at it again compared to the photo, then start again. However, I am starting to feel that we're getting there. I think the next posting might be the completed drawing...we'll see.

Work In Progress continued......

STAGE 3

Well, here is the result of today's efforts. As you can see, I have been working on the area around the eye, working outwards from the eye. Working in layers, I lay down soft light strokes - following the contours of the face and direction of hair growth. For this I use the 9B pencil - it is very soft and leaves soft strokes that are easily blended using the paper stump or my finger. I haven't used the putty rubber on the hair yet, the variation in tone/depth is achieved by applying the various layers of graphite strokes and blending. I think it is bringing out the eye nicely....and what a kindly eye he has. The stallion is black, so as you can imagine, there will need to be many, many more layers applied to darken down the overall tone, but I think you can see already how the shading brings the face to life.
This has been another couple of hours work, so 5 hours in total so far. Not sure how much I will be able to get done over the weekend, but I'll post updates as and when I have them. Be back soon with the next instalment.......