Sunday, May 18, 2008

Virtual Sketch; Cat in Graphite and India Ink

As promised yesterday, here is the result of my attempt at drawing Jeanette's cat Tripod.
It was great fun drawing from someone else's cat photo, and Tripod is a lovely cat to draw. Because this was just for fun I experimented with laying down the graphite. I did much more blending than I usually do and used graphite dust from my 4B pencil rubbed on with a stump in some places. I also painted India Ink in the really dark areas.
As a technique I will explore it in more depth as I think it has promise for achieving areas of soft focus.

Sadly I didn't finish the sketch but hopefully it is a reasonable likeness of Tripod. I did put a cat book behind him so that he could have a read if he got bored with drawing.
Don't forget to look at everyone else's drawings, I posted all the links yesterday.

I would really like to join in another virtual sketch if anyone else is up for it.

12 comments:

Jennifer Rose said...

Great sketch :D Definitely looks like tripod.

Gillian McMurray said...

This is a beautiful piece of work and a lovely cat. I love the effect of the India ink in the background.

Jeanette Jobson said...

He's perfect Gayle, you've done a wonderful job with Tripod. India ink for the dark background is a good idea.

Paulette said...

Hi Gayle,
Beautiful job with Tripod! The graphite dust seems to give a drawing a crisper tone(?), that I just love.

Gayle Mason said...

Thank you, I really enjoyed joining in.

Rose Welty said...

Gayle, this is lovely. I, too, love the India ink and crisp tone...really gives it punch.

Glad it's been fun for everyone, I certainly have enjoyed it and couldn't wait for today to arrive.

Stacy said...

Gayle, I love your version of Tripod! He looks wonderful. I'm going to spend some time studying how you differentiated between the dark form shadows and his dark markings.

Quilt knit said...

That looks like you had a lot of fun.
Beautiful work.
Sherrie Roberts

Lilly said...

Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. I lament that fact that I can not see larger versions of your work. I can see now that I am going to be spending a great deal of time reading your blog.

Gayle Mason said...

Thank you again.
Michael, I usually have larger images on my website, if you want a close up of anything in particular let me know and I'll try to oblige.

Making A Mark said...

Gosh - that indian ink and graphite dust combination is very powerful! Your drawing zaps off the page.

Will you use it again? You've got me wondering white pencil over the indian ink would look like..........

Gayle Mason said...

I'm definitely going to try the method again Katherine. I must admit I wondered about using the white charcoal over the india ink.