A second drawing of a Solitary Sandpiper, also in graphite. This one was done with Tombow Homo-graph Mono pencils. I think they’re my favorite set of graphite pencils, running a little harder than many, and they don’t smear quite as much, either.
My goal is to compare a few different pencil sets by drawing the same subject. Next, I’ll use a darker set, the Staedtler Mars Lumograph, which have more carbon.
I nearly always draw using a photo reference, the only way I can achieve a likeness. Well, maybe I achieve a likeness when I draw from real life, but a photo helps immensely.
What a photo often results in, however, is distortion. I know my horse well, and even though the above sketch I completed resembles him and even resembles the photo, it isn’t quite Pete. Pete is a Standardbred and has a rather long, Roman nose. This photo, taken about 20 feet away from him and zoomed in, created a foreshortened effect and his nose looks more like a Quarter Horse. If I were more experienced, I could change this to make it more Pete and less distorted photo.
Along with photo effects, I have some odd habits with drawing horses. I tend to place the eye too high and make the nose too wide pretty much every time. Believe it or not, I’m not trying for a photo real effect. My goal is to capture a likeness in an artistic manner. I don’t wish for my art to look like a photo, but I do hope people can look at something I’ve drawn and say, “Hey, that’s Pete!”
Charcoal, with all its dust and mess, is my current favorite medium. I love General’s charcoal pencils the best so far, but I use a carbon pencil for some detail work.
Black and white art is cool. It’s dramatic. It’s dynamic. It’s expressive. It’s also messy. But I love it.
It took numerous sketches to find a look I liked. With the Blue Jay drawings, I finally found it. I started with a very blurry vine charcoal image, blended it out with a brush, refined it with erasing, and added details with a carbon pencil. The softness comes from blending and using a touch of powdered charcoal with a brush. I use a white charcoal (chalk or pastel) pencil, too, but haven’t yet found one I like.
