Using about three different photos, I tried to recreate her as best I could. Showcasing my failed attempts is to let you know that as a reader it takes time to draw something, and you have to work up to drawing that something.
Attempt #1 Attempt #2
Attempt #3
The first step to drawing the face of a dog according to Hammond, is to check the accuracy of the line drawing (31). The impact on doing so made my sketch of Hiwakea more accurate and to scale to the original photo, as shown above.
Hammond also states, "Carefully study
each of the facial features and memorize
their characteristics as you go." (30).
A crucial part in drawing a photo of a dog
is to capture its emotion and one way to do
so is through its eyes.
I agree with Hammond with saying that
emotions are seen in animals through their
characteristics, do you believe there are
other ways emotion can be distinguished in
art?
other ways emotion can be distinguished in
art?
In the photo of Hiwakea to the right, you can see
that in her eyes that she seems to be focused and
strong. However, the seemingly slight smile she
gives with her mouth says that she can also be
playful.
that in her eyes that she seems to be focused and
strong. However, the seemingly slight smile she
gives with her mouth says that she can also be
playful.
The second step to drawing the face of an animal is to
add tone and the final step is to blend. In this photo up close, you can see the layered individual pencil strokes and how it blends out. Near her mask, or the crown of her head, I smoothed out the harsh coloring. The fur looks thick because of the many layers I have drawn and blended with my tortillon. Since my dog has what I like to call eyeliner around her eyes, it paints her as serious or more guarded.
add tone and the final step is to blend. In this photo up close, you can see the layered individual pencil strokes and how it blends out. Near her mask, or the crown of her head, I smoothed out the harsh coloring. The fur looks thick because of the many layers I have drawn and blended with my tortillon. Since my dog has what I like to call eyeliner around her eyes, it paints her as serious or more guarded.
Hammond, Lee. Drawing realistic pets from photographs. North Light Books, 2005.
I like that you showed all of your attempts at drawing Hiwakea and that you kept trying to draw her. When I was drawing I couldn't draw everything the way I wanted it to look like either so I had to keep redrawing it until I was satisfied. I think that there are other ways of showing emotion because using different colors and backgrounds can help portray emotion as well but for an animal I think emotion is mostly seen through what they are doing. How were you able to make your third attempt better than the first two? What did you do differently when you were drawing?
ReplyDeleteThank you Tarnvir! what I did to better my drawing was to use a picture with better lighting and more detail. In the first photo, it’s pretty difficult to tell what emotion Hiwakea is portraying and doesn’t focus on her. The second photo pays more attention to detail, but too much detail. In the original photo you can see there are too many fine hairs and other aspects to pay attention to. In the final photo I chose, it had a combination of detail and focus on her emotion which made it so simple to draw. Another thing that i found easier was to draw her from a side view rather than from a frontal view. Her snout is a tricky thing to draw when facing the camera. I hope this answers your question!
ReplyDeleteHey Jadenne! I really love your drawing, it is very well done. I DO think that emotion can be expressed in many more ways than just facial features. In my blog, I discuss how lines can convey emotion. Check them out! I also really love that you showed us your failed attempts, I think it is super important as an artist to grow from our mistakes and to keep getting better. Do you think there are any other ways to capture the emotion of a dog? Let me know, and thanks for the great post!
ReplyDeleteThank you Raiden! I do think there are other ways to capture a dog's emotion in a drawing besides its facial expressions. For example, if you saw a person with their shoulders sagged and upset, you'd assume they were sad. This can go the same way for animals! In many of the photos of my dog she has this emotion that can only be described as pure energy, happiness, or (in my final blog post) confusion. I appreciate your recognition of my failed attempts because I too believe it is important to show where we start and where we end.
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