A girl and her pencils.....The White Horse part 2

Well good morning a happy Tuesday to the world! And I am bouncing off the walls I have been so excited about this piece. I am loving it and all its challenges! I am enjoying creating a white animal far more than I thought I would. I am constantly amazed at how happy little things make me and quite thankful too, as there are little things every day to be happy about. Anyway, I really wanted to show you this first photo because it clearly shows what I say about white rarely being white. You can see the white of the paper on the right hand side and see just how much whiter that is than the horses head. There are actually just one or two tiny bits of the mane that I have kept very white. I have also begun to work on the muzzle and you can see now that the ear that looked so dark in my last post now needs to go a little darker.

I have probably never mentioned before but when I show you a progress shot, the work shown is never complete. I get a part nearly finished, but invariably I go back and rework areas already done. Very often to darken colors or go bolder. This is mainly because if you go to dark with colored pencil to begin with you can't lighten it, so to play safe I go a bit lighter than I think the piece will need to be. The ear is a good example of that. I did eventually go back and darken it considerably. Although not in the photos here.

I have also done something that I wouldn't normally do here. I have worked the chain in the lower portion of the picture. I normally leave this area until last because of my hand going over it as I work above, but as I told you I have never drawn metal and the chain was really bothering me as I was not sure that I could do it. So I spent a whole afternoon working it! (It is actually missing two links - but I won't tell if you won't!). I was worried that I was going to ruin the picture by messing this up, so I decided to face it. I do not think it is too bad for a first attempt, and like most things if you just take your time and draw exactly what you see, not what you think you ought to see, it looks right in the end. This is something I would like to say to everyone that thinks that they can't draw. Drawing is more about seeing and observing than it is about skill with a pencil. Learn to see things as they really are and not as you think they should be, and you will be able to draw them.
The White Horse is actually nearly finished now. I will be putting the last few touches to him today and he will be available to buy as prints, phone cases and more in my shop tomorrow.
Have the best of Tuesday's whatever you may be up to and most of all have lots of fun drawing!
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