On the drawing board

Zara
21cm x27cm, Coloured Pencil
Copyright Laura Hardie 2009

I work from photos (as if you hadn’t guessed:)) – I have to as I've yet to come across a dog, or any animal for that matter, who will happily pose for up to 30 hours or more while I complete their portrait. But I have to admit to being very particular when it comes to choosing those that I will work from, as I’m sure those who have worked with me in the past will testify. I’m not saying I haven’t worked with bad photos because I have, many in fact when I first started out, but ultimately this shows in the finished portrait hence my ‘fussiness’ and insistence on good photos to start with.

This week I had planned to start a portrait of four Collies but on printing out the agreed reference photos I really wasn’t completely happy with two of them so decided to ask for more. I do find it hard if I continually have to ask for more photos when they’re unsuitable – I almost feel as if I’m being a pain – but it’s so important to get this stage right and hopefully the finished portrait makes all the extra effort worthwhile.

So with the Collie portrait on hold until next week I had the chance to work on my own portfolio, which I’m slowly trying to build up between commissioned pieces, but was disappointed to get next to nothing done – too much procrastinating and not enough action. I had the perfect opportunity too as my daughter was off to London on a school trip for the week giving me plenty of me time. Sadly the only thing I managed to do was to finish the above drawing of Zara. I started this back in February and you can see a couple of work in progress shots here and here.

At this stage I’m undecided what to call this piece but I do have a few ideas running round my head that I’ll no doubt spend some time pondering over.

Portrait finished

Skye
Copyright Laura Hardie 2009

I put the last finishing touches to Skye this morning and now feel I’ve reached the stage where I’ve done all I can to this portrait so I’m officially calling it finished – further to approval of course.

Despite my reservations with the choice of reference photos for both dogs – there were some discussions early on and they were not the ones I would have personally chosen - I think they work well together. Maybe I should point out that I am terribly fussy when it comes to reference photos:)

And not forgetting the finished portrait showing both dogs together.

Keira and Skye
16x12 Coloured Pencil on paper
Copyright Laura Hardie 2009

Slowly moving on

I’m still working away on the double portrait of Skye and Keira which, as seems to be the norm these days, is taking longer to finish than I originally planned. I have now made a start on Skye as you can see in the following stages.

A Work in Progress
Copyright Laura Hardie 2009

Another couple of days should finally see this one complete.

Coloured Pencil Tutor required

Keira
A Work in Progress
Copyright Laura Hardie 2009

I’ve not been feeling too good these past few days so my pencils have been lying dormant gathering dust while I’ve been moping around feeling sorry for myself. I did manage to finish Keira before all this however, which I’m pleased about, but will need to play catch up for the rest of the week to get this portrait finished in time.

Now for something a little bit different and exciting, at least for my blog anyway. Melanie Phillips who currently tutors with the London Art College made me aware of a vacancy they currently have there and I would like to do my bit and hopefully bring this to the attention of any coloured pencil artists out there. The London Art College specialises in providing tuition by distance learning art courses and are currently looking for a tutor for their Coloured Pencil Course. The details are as follows…

Tutor Required for London Art College Distance Learning Course

There is a vacancy for a distance Learning Course Tutor for the Coloured Pencil Certificate Course. This is a unique opportunity to work with students from the comfort of your own home or studio. The successful applicant will eventually be able to put their mark on the course and make it their own. The post requires a few hours per week in tutoring, which will start gradually as you take over the new enrolees. The tutor will be required to have some general computer skills. Previous experience in tutoring may help but it is not necessary.

This is open to UK applicants only.

Application - Stage 1
If you are interested in taking over the tutoring post for the coloured pencil course please entitle your email 'CP Course tutor vacancy' with the following.....
Please include a few high res examples of your coloured pencil artwork,
A brief background of your experiences / education /age range
Tutoring experiences if any,
Whether you have a full / part time job or work as an artist full / part time.
Please email this to Melanie Phillips - petportraitartist@gmail.com

Application - Stage 2
In the second stage of the application, the successful applicants will be asked to produce a sample critique. An excerpt of a previous students critique will be given to each applicant to show what we are looking for. You will be given three pieces of artwork to critique and this can be then emailed along with your feedback, length of time the critique took and any other comments you may have.

Good Luck!

For further information, or to submit an application please email Melanie Phillips - petportraitartist@gmail.com

It’s a great opportunity I’m sure you’ll agree and I personally wish all the best to those who apply.

Portrait update

Keira
A Work in Progress
Copyright Laura Hardie 2009

A couple more stages showing Keira coming together. I should have her finished over the weekend and then it’s onto her companion Skye, the Springer Spaniel.

Start of a new portrait

Keira
A Work in Progress
Copyright Laura Hardie 2009

My next portrait is of two dogs – a Springer Spaniel and a crossbreed, although we’re not sure what cross exactly. Her owners affectionately refer to her as a ‘Heinz 57’ and have to admit that was a new one to me.

I’ve made a start on Keira (the Heinz 57) simply because she is on the left of the composition and I like to work left to right. This way I can avoid ‘smudging’ my work. At this stage I’m simply laying down my base colours and building up my layers to create depth, working light to dark. The ear is pretty much finished and I’m now jumping between the eyes, nose and head working a little bit here and a little bit there until it all comes together. Still a way to go before that happens though.

Springer Spaniel finished and Poll results

Thistle
12x10 Coloured Pencil on paper
Copyright Laura Hardie 2009

While adding the final touches to Thistle I suddenly remembered about the poll I ran back in March and how I’d totally forgotten to post the results of this on my blog - oops. I do have a terrible memory which only seems to get worse it seems.

Just to refresh your memory (and to update any new readers who haven’t a clue what I’m on about) I was becoming increasingly unhappy with the results I was getting when scanning my drawings, especially those completed using graphite pencil, and wanted to do something about it. I was trying to find the best way to get images of my artwork and was interested to find out what other artists thought and what their preferred method was. See my original post here.

While I’m not sure word for word what my original question was, having noted only the results when the poll closed (a lesson learnt here to write the question down as well), I do know I was asking how you obtained a good image of your art work. Here are the results and I‘d like to say a huge thank you to all those who participated. From the 23 votes recorded…..

• 11 (47%) use a scanner.
• 9 (39%) photograph their drawings/paintings indoors using natural lighting.
• 4 (17%) photograph their drawings/paintings outside.
• 2 (8%) photograph their drawings/paintings indoors using special lighting.
• 2 (8%) have their artwork professionally scanned.
• 1 (4%) has their work professionally photographed.

Overall, photographing artwork whether indoors or outdoors, with or without special lighting turned out to be the most popular method, which did surprise me a little – I assumed that most artists scanned their work. Saying this scanning did come a close second.

I do believe however that whatever method is used that the majority of work happens post scan or photograph in Photoshop. Being able to correct and ‘fine tune' images using this software is great and only wish I knew more about it – or at least lived with someone who does.

I’ve experimented a bit with photographing my drawings and each time return to my scanner as I personally feel I get a better result this way. And now, thanks to a fellow artist, that I know how to get a white background using Photoshop without affecting my drawings I’m going to stick to this method for now.

Springer Spaniel update

Thistle
A Work in Progress
Copyright Laura Hardie 2009

The school holidays are now over so hopefully I can spend more time on my drawings. Spent a good part of yesterday just working on Thistle’s ear and only managed to complete half of it which really puts into perspective how slow working with coloured pencils can actually be.

Start of a new portrait

Things have slowed down recently behind the drawing board as I’m just not putting in the hours that I should be just now with the result that everything is taking that bit longer to complete. The school holidays haven’t helped as I never seem to get much done during them anyway, but mainly it’s just a simple case of life getting in the way……… again. Hopefully next week things will be back to normal and I’ll be managing my time better.

I’ve made a start on my next portrait, which happens to be a beautiful Springer Spaniel called Thistle. Here are the first couple of stages.

I was made aware of a new website this week called Colored Pencil Central which you might find interesting, especially if you love coloured pencils like I do. Set up by Ann Kullberg, it is basically a directory of coloured pencil websites, blogs, videos, workshops, etc and is well worth a visit. No doubt I’ll spend many an hour admiring the work of other artists and more blogs will be added to my favourites.

Chocolate Lab finished

Milly
16X12 Coloured Pencil
Copyright Laura Hardie 2009

I actually managed to finish Milly on time but have been sitting on it (not literally of course) for the last couple of days to see if there were any areas jumped out at me in need of attention before calling it done. I am happy to say however that she has now passed my ‘scrutinization’ period and is ready for approval.

On the home stretch

Milly
Work in Progress
Copyright Laura Hardie 2009

Slowly (is there any other way with coloured pencils?) but surely Milly is coming together. This has been one of those portraits where I was forever going back to bits I’d previously called finished or starting one area and deciding I wanted to do another, then another all before any were finished. Probably wouldn’t look good if doing a demo but the end results are the same and that’s what matters at the end of the day.

Chocolate Lab

It’s been some time coming but at last we are getting some nice weather with, importantly, lots of sun. Only problem is I want to make the most of it, which means time away from the drawing board. It’s a good opportunity however to look for and take some much needed reference material for future drawings so don’t feel too guilty.

Here are the first stages of my next portrait as mentioned very briefly in my last post. Ideally I should be further along than where I am now but staying hopeful that it will be finished by Sunday, otherwise I'll be playing catch-up. When completed this will be 16x12 inches in size so quite big for coloured pencil.

A couple of updates

Zara
A Work in Progress
Copyright Laura Hardie 2009

Not a big update but an update all the less, which shows a bit more work has been done to her body. Quite a bit more needs to be done in this area but it will have to wait as I work on my next commission of a chocolate lab – you can see my reference for this in the sidebar. I’ve made a start but it’s still in the early stages and there’s really not enough on paper just yet to warrant a progress shot.

Work still continues with my prints after encountering yet more unforeseen problems over the weekend – not that I should really be surprised. While I had hoped at this point to excitedly tell all that my prints were now ready I instead have to console myself that it’s not to be, at least for the time being. I am progressing; I am getting there and I am learning – it’s just taking (a lot) longer than I’d planned.

Prints and a new coloured pencil portrait

Something I have wanted to do for what seems like forever now is to turn my artwork into prints so I thought I would spend time this week working towards finally completing this goal. It certainly feels like it has been one long journey getting to the stage I'm at, believe it or not, with there always being something or other to sort out – anything from problems calibrating my computer to simply finding space to house my (huge) printer. I’ve been scanning, sizing, photoshoping and tweaking these past few days to get things set up and ready for the printing stage. Tomorrow I’ll spend the day printing proofs and making sure everything looks good – like the colours, image size, etc. At last I feel I’m getting somewhere.

My pencils haven’t been forgotten in all the excitement over my prints and I have been picking them up now and again to work on a portrait I started a while back. The subject for this drawing is very dear to me as she was our dog and, although no longer living with us, I still love her to bits. She was the model for this portrait, which reminds me – I originally wanted to make this into a print too.

Here are a couple of ‘in progress’ shots.

Patience - finished

Patience
16x12 Coloured Pencil
Copyright Laura Hardie 2009

It’s been a while coming but here she is, finished and waiting for approval.

Nearly there

Patience
A Work in Progress
Copyright Laura Hardie 2009

Another quick post where I don't have a lot to say but do have an update on Patience to show you. The next post should see her finished.

An update

Patience
A Work in Progress
Copyright Laura Hardie 2009

The work continues and Patience is starting to come together. I think I can honestly say that from the many portraits I've had the pleasure of drawing that this has been one of the hardest coat colours to get right – every hair seems to be a different shade of grey. Luckily I have enough pencils to choose from.

Scanner or Camera?

Patience
A Work in Progress
Copyright Laura Hardie 2009

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about photographing and/or scanning artwork trying to decipher which method gives the best result. I’m assuming this would be a matter of opinion amongst artists with arguments for and against both. I personally always scan my drawings simply because I’m not very good with the camera, get lost when it comes to setting the right exposure and get better results with my scanner – although, as explained in my last post, I’ve never been totally happy with the finished images, despite playing around with them in Photoshop.

As it is about time I stop moaning about this and doing something about it I thought (to avoid personally emailing you all:)) I would start with a poll on my blog to see what your preferred method is. I’m interested to know how you get good images of your artwork - the kind that you would be happy using for such things as prints to sell, for use on marketing materials, website or for entries into exhibitions. In other words, good, clear images that remain true (as possible) to the original.

I’ll leave the poll running for a fortnight in the hope of getting as many replies as possible and hope you will participate. I also welcome any comments you might have on the subject.

The image in todays post is what I am currently working on. I’m really excited about this drawing as, although not my first horse, it is my first to commission. Here’s hoping it leads to more. This is the first stage and I should have another update soon.

All done

Charlie
16x12 Pencil on paper
Copyright Laura Hardie 2009

It never ceases to amaze me just how time consuming all those ‘little jobs’ that need doing can be. Visits to the framers for mounts, wrapping portraits for posting, printing photos, paperwork, updating website, etc, etc – all need doing but is time spent away from the drawing board. My time planned with my camera and photographing artwork didn’t happen unfortunately but it will get done, and soon.

I did manage to finish my portrait of Charlie and get a scan I am happy with thanks to pencil artist Grahame Butler (thank you), who left a very helpful Photoshop step-by-step on my last post on how to get that background white without affecting the drawing. This is definitely a great starting point and something I can play around with and expand on in the future.

Pencils used in this portrait, for those who are interested, were Staedtler Mars Lumograph in grades 4H, 2H, H, B, 2B and 3B.

Nearly there

Charlie
A Work in Progress
Copyright Laura Hardie 2009

Not much more to go now but thought I would show another work in progress stage before unveiling the completed portrait which, all going well, should be finished tomorrow.

The more I look at this scanned image and those on my website (some of which are terrible) the more determined I am to find out how to get good photos, or scans, of graphite pencil drawings. Surely there is a way that isn’t too technical for me to deal with.

I like to keep a record of every drawing or painting that I do and that includes a good copy of the original, either scanned or photographed, which can be used on such things as my website, for advertising and marketing purposes, for exhibition entries or to be turned into prints. The image therefore needs to be true to the original in colour and detail and while I do need to work on photographing artwork as a whole I feel I fall way short when it comes to my graphite drawings. A bad scan or photo isn’t helping me and doesn’t show my work to it’s best potential.

So with the above in mind I’m going to dedicate a couple of days playing with my camera first and seeing what I come up with. I can’t help feeling that a lot of the work will need to be done in Photoshop – my Achilles heel – in which case it could take a lot longer than a couple of days to get right. My main problem, as I see it, are the white backgrounds that are a feature in the majority of my drawings and getting the camera or scanner to keep them white while keeping everything else in the drawing correct and true to the original. Large white areas can confuse the camera – not sure what happens with the scanner – and it should just be a case of getting the right exposure and light to take the photo in. Right?

I can tell this could take quite a while so any helpful advice would be gratefully received. And of course anything I learn on this journey will be shared here for all to see.