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A little time and a few more layers!

6/8/2018

2 Comments

 
Today l wanted to share this photo with you. This is a sleepy little chipmunk that l drew in 2016. I was looking through some older work the other week and l pulled out this piece and looked at it. What l realized was - it wasn’t bad but it could look much better.
I wanted to share it because l often get asked by people what they can do to improve their art. And often when l see their work this is pretty much what l see. Something like my 2016 piece. There is nothing really wrong with it. The drawing is accurate. The colors are accurate. The fur is the right length and direction. The composition is nice. It just doesn’t pop off the paper. The good news is that this is such an easy problem to correct.
Picture of a sleepy chipmunk drawn using colored pencils showing the progress of my work over two years.
So l looked at my piece from 2016. I decided not to redraw it, but to spend more time working on the 2016 piece. I realized that with a few more layers, a lot more contrast and the edges sharpened it would look so much better. And this is really fun to do. The hard part and the boring underlayers are already done. All l had to do was tweak! I added more (and stronger) color to the fur. I sharpened and refined all the edges and then l really ramped up the contrast. I hope you can see from these two pieces just how important contrast is to make a piece 3d and for it to pop off the page. It has taken me a long time to learn to be bold with contrast. But l am learning that it is almost impossible to overdo contrast. So if you aren’t loving a piece you are working on, don’t bin it! Take an hour or two to punch up the color, sharpen the edges and whack up the contrast, you will be amazed at the difference!
2 Comments
Skywalkerphotographer
6/8/2018 10:14:20 pm

Really nice helpful and practical information. You're an excellent artist and teacher of art.

Reply
Sallyann
6/9/2018 03:56:43 am

Aw thank you so much for your lovely words ?. I try to say something useful, l am not always sure that l do!?

Reply



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    My name is Sallyann and here I want to share with you my art journey with colored pencils.

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  • Home
  • Original Artwork page 1
    • Original artwork page 2
    • Original artwork page 3
    • Original Artwork page 4
    • Original artwork page 5
    • Original artwork page 6
    • Original artwork page 7
    • None animal art >
      • Broken Gem heart
  • Videos
  • Tutorials
    • How to draw cat's eyes
    • How to draw owl eyes
    • How to draw feathers 1 (hummingbird/Jacamar type feathers)
    • How to draw feathers 2 (irregular feathers)
    • How to draw feathers 4 - parrot feathers
    • How to draw feathers 3 chest/breast feathers
    • How to draw feathers 5 - Wing feathers
    • Hummingbird Head Feathers
    • How to draw cat fur
    • How to draw chimpanzee fur
    • How to draw a grasshopper’s wing
    • How to draw fish scales
    • How to draw snake scales
    • How to draw lizard skin
    • How to draw fish fins
    • How to draw a gemstone
    • How to draw tree bark
    • How to draw rose gold
  • Tips and Techniques
    • How to get white
    • What pencils should I use?
    • All about sharpeners?
    • How to blend with colored pencil
    • How to burnish
    • Erasing colored pencil
    • How to mix colors
    • Keeping your work clean
    • Reference photos and copyright
    • What to draw
    • How to make your work look real
    • I can't draw
    • What paper should l use?
  • Blog
  • Contact