Beautiful kitty! Am I right in assuming that your use of black paper is what enables you to get such realistic fur? The fur on my cat ACEOs is never this good, since I can NEVER get the Prismacolors to completely cover the white paper. And trying to draw white whiskers on darker colored fur - forget it!
Thank you very much for your kind words. You might be right regarding the fur, I'm not sure, I never tried on white paper. I originally used the black paper to play with the shadows. As I've developped my own technique, I've realised that I could almost saturate the paper with colors, then when I spray the drawing it ends up adding enough of a tooth that I can go over the drawing with finer details one last time. It really helps with covering the paper with colors (by the way, I have the reverse problem that you have with the white not covering the black paper entirely). Give it a shot, once you've sprayed your drawing, go at it one last time. I found it really makes a difference. For the whiskers, you could use a light grey or blue. Start with white where the whiskers go over the fur, then continue the whiskers with another color when they're over the white paper. I've also noticed a lot of people simply using a touch of white acrylic paint for the whiskers or the light in the eyes. I'd love to see your artwork. Any link you can send me?
Thanks for your prompt reply! Yes, maybe I need to spray on some fixative so that the darker colored fur doesn't fade out my white whiskers and just make a smeared mess. I'll just have to be careful about the hideous - and dangerous - stench of the spray....lol.
You know, before you get too dark with the fur, maybe you can try to establish the position of the whiskers first and try not to go over them too much.
Oh yes, I often do that, and other times I impress the paper beforehand. Sometimes it works better than others.
BTW: I tried your recommendation to apply the whiskers over fixative. Didn't work for me (white still very faint over dark fur). Maybe I'll try Genesis paint for the whiskers next.
Beautiful kitty! Am I right in assuming that your use of black paper is what enables you to get such realistic fur? The fur on my cat ACEOs is never this good, since I can NEVER get the Prismacolors to completely cover the white paper. And trying to draw white whiskers on darker colored fur - forget it!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your kind words.
ReplyDeleteYou might be right regarding the fur, I'm not sure, I never tried on white paper. I originally used the black paper to play with the shadows. As I've developped my own technique, I've realised that I could almost saturate the paper with colors, then when I spray the drawing it ends up adding enough of a tooth that I can go over the drawing with finer details one last time. It really helps with covering the paper with colors (by the way, I have the reverse problem that you have with the white not covering the black paper entirely). Give it a shot, once you've sprayed your drawing, go at it one last time. I found it really makes a difference. For the whiskers, you could use a light grey or blue. Start with white where the whiskers go over the fur, then continue the whiskers with another color when they're over the white paper. I've also noticed a lot of people simply using a touch of white acrylic paint for the whiskers or the light in the eyes. I'd love to see your artwork. Any link you can send me?
Thanks for your prompt reply! Yes, maybe I need to spray on some fixative so that the darker colored fur doesn't fade out my white whiskers and just make a smeared mess. I'll just have to be careful about the hideous - and dangerous - stench of the spray....lol.
ReplyDeleteHere are a few of my poor old kitties....;o):
http://yfrog.com/49scan0022j
http://yfrog.com/83scan0021bj
http://yfrog.com/0yscan0031kj
You know, before you get too dark with the fur, maybe you can try to establish the position of the whiskers first and try not to go over them too much.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I often do that, and other times I impress the paper beforehand. Sometimes it works better than others.
ReplyDeleteBTW: I tried your recommendation to apply the whiskers over fixative. Didn't work for me (white still very faint over dark fur). Maybe I'll try Genesis paint for the whiskers next.
Never give up! ;o)
Yeah, try some white guache or acrylic paint. Good luck.
ReplyDelete