Because of site file size restrictions, I am unable to upload the outline that I'd planned on using. I am looking at alternate places to host the files at the moment., however it won't prevent us from going ahead.

I suggest that you go over the original CP class, as it will provide a lot of good information on coloured pencil application and some of your questions may be answered within the pages.

My apologies for the sporadic nature of the information. I was pressed for time and rushed a little in places. I will add more demos as we go.

While I figure out the technical problems, lets getting started on the process? Read through the information, then do the following:

1. Choose a good eye reference and draw it.
2. Use the dog nose reference and draw it
3. Use the fur reference and draw it.

Once you have completed these exercises, you will be ready to move on to your whole animal.

Any questions that you have I'll try to answer. Most of, enjoy your explorations into coloured pencil!

Right now I will post the text information in the tutorial and will add images later.

One of my passions in life is to drawing living things, animals being one of my favourite. I love creating the detail of the fur and the realism in the eyes that brings the animals to life.

This two week workshop will give you an opportunity to have some hands on practice at drawing an animal, either as a whole, or to practice individual parts to become familiar with the techniques.

I will not be teaching you how to draw in this workshop, but providing you with the techniques of drawing fur, eyes, noses, beaks, etc., using coloured pencil, so that you will have the ability to produce a piece here or to continue to draw animals into the future, improving as you go.

The key to lifelike animal drawings is to take your time, be patient and observe carefully. I promise if you do these three things, you will be happy with the final result.

Where to start?
The first thing that I do is create a line drawing. This is my map where I indicate highlights and shadow locations. I will do this drawing on sketch paper that I can make correction on, then when I am happy with the drawing, I will transfer it to a clean sheet of paper ?€“ in this case Bristol smooth.

Coloured pencil drawings or ?€˜paintings?€™ are created by building layers slowly with pigment. Each area in a drawing should have a minimum of three layers of colour with at least two different pigments. Some areas can have 15 or 20 layers to achieve the desired effect, but the majority have about six or seven layers.
By adding layers and different colours, you will achieve a rich depth to your drawing. A single colour will look flat.

Erasing colour
Coloured pencils are usually wax based, so using a regular eraser or kneaded eraser will do nothing but push the pigment further into the paper. You will need to actually lift the colour off the paper and this can be done several ways.
1. Poster putty. This is the slightly tacky stuff than you can knead and use to put posters on your wall. It works beautifully to remove coloured pencil too.
2. Sticky tape (sello tape, scotch tape and other brand names) works beautifully to remove areas of pigment too. Simply lay a piece of tape onto the area that you want to remove, add a little pressure with your finger and lift the tape. Use this method VERY cautiously, as it can tear your paper surface or worse. You can use an eraser shield to limit the area that you remove. These are easily available at most art or office supply stores.
3. Electric or battery operated erasers work well and can get your drawing back to white paper but need to be used VERY carefully otherwise you can end up with a hole in your drawing. Use a very light touch with these erasers and use sparingly in small areas.
There are a number of techniques for applying coloured pencil to paper, each can be an individual preference or useful in rendering a specific texture or surface.
?€? Scumbling: This technique applies pencil strokes with a tight scribbly motion (see Brenda?€™s ?€˜squirkling?€™. Use a sharp pencil and light pressure.
?€? Angled parallel hatching: This is a very common stroke in all drawing, whether graphite, pen and ink or coloured pencil.
?€? Vertical parallel hatching: You will have more overlap in your strokes with this technique, but these are evened out in subsequent layers.
?€? Crosshatching: Hatch marks going one direction are overlaid with hatch marks going another direction. (see Lesson here)
?€? Circulism: This is very similar to scumbling but a gentler approach which lays down a very smooth surface of even colour. It is not a quick technique however, so be prepared to go slow to achieve results.
?€? Impressing: Using an empty pen, knitting needle or the dull end of a darning needle, make strokes on your paper. When covered with coloured pencil, the impressed lines will stand out as the white of the paper. This is the standard technique for creating whiskers on animals, loose hairs or veins on leaves.
?€? Burnishing: This is a name for using so much hard pressure and so many layers that the tooth of the paper is completely filled and no white of the paper shows through. This can be used in small areas such as metal or glass to achieve a shiny, rich surface, but use sparingly and not until you are sure that you are calling your drawing finished after burnishing as you will not be able to apply additional layers of colour once you have burnished an area.

EYES
I nearly always start animal (or human) portraits with the eyes. If I can capture the look and values then I will continue with the drawing. Without them being successful, I rarely will spend additional time on the piece.

Start off with a light wash of your palest value. This should be done with very light pressure and should have even coverage. You should not be able to see any pencil lines. Remember to leave the catchlights in the eye as the white of the paper.

This cat has green/gold eyes so my palette for building up the colour would be pale green, yellow ochre, mid green, mineral orange, aqua and blue.
Use your reference to carefully study the subtle changes of light and value in the eyeball itself. Remember that eyes are spheres and therefore shadow tends to be on the edges depending on the direction of the light. Also the upper lid may cast a shadow onto the eye itself.

Even if the image on the left isn?€™t coloured pencil, its a good demonstration of the construction of drawing an eye and the basic start of laying down fur.
These are my working notes where I test out my palette for colour choices, strokes, and notes for layering. Try out your colours on a piece of scrap paper before you try them on your original drawing. It can save a lot of tears. Your working notes are also very useful references for the future when you are drawing similar subjects.

NOSES
Despite the different breeds of dogs or cats, nose structure remains pretty much the same. Colouring will vary depending on the breed of animal and some will have more texture than others on the ?€˜leather?€™. The more heavily textured, the more contrast you will need in dark values.
Most animal?€™s noses are either wet or dry. Wet particularly in the case of dogs and the trick to drawing them, is to create both the unique shape, texture and if present, moisture to make them believable.

Its useful to take the nose, whether dog or cat, as a separate study and examine it closely, trying to recreate the colour, shape and textures. The key is close observation and a good image to work from.

FUR
Animals are generally covered with hair ?€“ or fur. There is a dense undercoat that is quite fluffy and down-like and a coarser outer hair ?€“ the guard hair ?€“ that repels water and dirt. Each breed of animal has a different coat of varying length, either long or short fur or a combination.
Animal fur must be drawn in the direction that it grows. If you closely examine an animal?€™s fur, you will see how the direction follows the bone structure of the animal and helps form any patterning, as in this demonstration drawing of tiger fur.

To draw fur well, you need a clear close up image that shows the hairs and the values. This close up of a tabby's fur is a good way to practice drawing fur.

Try this exercise and see what you come up with. Look at the value changes that make up the pattern in the fur, the shadows between the hairs that define the lighter values and think about how to create them. This is what is known as negative drawing which means that you are drawing the shape around the hair, not the hair itself.

To draw this particular fur in coloured pencil, your range of colours will include sepia, umbers, yellow ochre, grey blue and cream. I used Prismacolor pencils for this, but if you aren?€™t using this brand, simply substitute approximate colours until you get the mix that you think is close.

I start with a light layer of cp in the base colour. This is the usually the lighter value in the case of dark fur or a neutral mid value for light coloured fur. This demo shows how the layers are slowly built using short strokes that indicate hair. I begin with an even layer as a base for the lightest colour of the fur, then start building the strokes, adding darker colours as I go and overlapping dark into light.

This is a slow process and you will achieve good results if you are patient and continue the layers. It will look odd at first, but then will start to come together. The more layers you use, the better the fur will look. A sharp pencil tip is vital to get the effect of fur. Don't be afraid to sharpen your pencil!

You can also use global shading to create an animal drawing. This will not give you the detail that the previous method does, but simply creates areas of light and dark to make up the form of the animal. This is good for animals that are further away or short haired . It is also used to make parts of the animal that recede when you want to bring attention to the face of the animal.

Whiskers
Creating white whiskers in animals takes a little planning. There are a couple of ways to do this so that the whiskers look natural. The first, which I prefer, is to use the indenting method. This involves placing a piece of tracing paper over your drawing, then using a blunt knitting needle or the end of an empty ballpoint pen, draw the lines that represent the whiskers, pressing firmly enough to leave indentations in your drawing.

When you use your coloured pencils to draw, the lines will remain white and not be affected by the colour. Just be careful to go back and forth horizontally, not vertically, in case your pencil slips into the groove and leaves some pigment there.

The second method of drawing whiskers is to put them in after yoru drawing is complete, using gouche. Gouche is an opaque paint that you can thin and apply with a fine liner brush to add white whiskers.

Despite the different breeds of dogs or cats, nose structure remains pretty much the same. Colouring will vary depending on the breed of animal and some will have more texture than others on the ?€˜leather?€™. The more heavily textured, the more contrast you will need in dark values.
Most animal?€™s noses are either wet or dry. Wet particularly in the case of dogs and the trick to drawing them, is to create both the unique shape, texture and if present, moisture to make them believable.

Its useful to take the nose, whether dog or cat, as a separate study and examine it closely, trying to recreate the colour, shape and textures. The key is close observation and a good image to work from.

GETTING STARTED
Start with some studies of the parts of animals that make up the whole. Eyes, noses and fur. Understand the techniques and how to create the colours and textures that you?€™ll need to convincingly recreate the photo of the animal that you wish to draw.

?€? Build your layers slowly using a light touch.
?€? Observe carefully and draw what you see, not what you believe should be there.
?€? Use a piece of scrap paper to test out colour swatches and determine the palette that you?€™ll use and to test techniques.


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Dear Jeanette,
Oh my gosh, what a lot of work you have put into this. Thank you, I am going to have to set some time aside for this.
Warm regards,
Trish

Thank you, Jeanette. I have a question(I haven't participated in a workshop before so i don't know the protocol).
May we post the stages of our project here for guidance as we go along?Or this forum is only for teaching purposes?!

Thanks Trish. I just wish it could be in a better format, but I'll work on that was we go along.

Sorry Elena. Yes, create your drawings and post them as you go and I will comment on them to help guide you.

Start with individual animal sections to get a feel for it, then try your full animal reference that you've chosen.

Sorry, I have a question too. Perhaps it is a (my) language problem. What references do yo mean for drawing the studies. I have only my cats photo

thank you Jeanette.

Just one question,
you have pointed this exercise:
1. Choose a good eye reference and draw it.
2. Use the dog nose reference and draw it
3. Use the fur reference and draw it.

Do you mean from the photo we are going to draw, or any eye, nose or fur, just to practise a bit before starting our animal drawing? and do we do this emediately in colored pencils or first with a pencil?

Sorry for the confusion on the references. As the format of this has changed, its made it a little more difficult to follow.

I will provide three references for you to use and practice your animal drawing skills with. After you have completed them to your satisfaction, you can then proceed on to your own reference photo.

Here is the first. The Eye

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The Nose

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I will have the fur reference up tonight.

jeannette, those are gorgeous my dear..wow, so impressive you are..i am referring of course to the cp work above..i shall start eyes this evening and give them a go. thanks so much for all the work you have put into this..wow..

Hi Jeanette
Thanks for the eye and nose! I'll have to wait till tomorrow afternoon as I will need daylight to do colour. I can manage graphite in the evenings, but can't handle coloured stuff by artificial light. When I have tried, I get unpleasant results when I see the stuff in the morning. Norma

OOOOOOO this gonna be so much fun to do!!!! my dog eyes are on their way
and "you have madd skills" IslanderNL as us teenagers would say

Thanks Kay. I'm sure you'll do even better.

I agree completely Norma. I can't do colourwork in artificial light either. The only solution is to use a wide spectrum light that will allow you to see the full range of colours.

Fred, thank you, I think. I can't wait to see your dog eyes.

Again my apologies for the problems with this post. I haven't had a chance to look for another host for the file and now it seems my file size is being restricted too. Sigh. But we'll find a way to get around this. Not to worry.

But this does mean that I am unable to put up a fur image for you to draw from. So what I would like you to do is find your own reference for fur. Or use the fur around the eye or nose of the dog here to practice your techniques with. Remember to use a sharp pencil and get your values in place before working on details and build slowly.

Norma and Jeanette, you are both so right, i tried doing it at night and it doesn't work, all the colours seem the same to me, I mean similar ones, and my eyes hurt!! I'll have to try again in the morning.

I'm working from the screen too, wich of course doesn't help.

Hm-m I have a bad habit of working at night with crappy lighting too and I keep going:P
Here is my try at an eye.
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The top right is after I realized that the dog is more red than golden, so I added more reddish browns in.
While I think I got my point across, when I look closely at your work (Jeanette), I think the big difference is planning.
Well definitely, since it being dark and all, I didn't transfer a drawing I went at it after I got the shape of the eye in.
But I also see, comparing your process to mine, what you are saying about the negative drawing.
This is prisma cps on smooth bristol, about 3"x3".

Magnificent lessons! It's time to work hard, friends!
I'm working hard, too. Late in the night. In silence. I hear only the noice of the pencils on my paper.
But drawing with CP takes time, takes time, takes times!
An

jeanette, you mentioned impressing the whiskers etc..
i have practiced this many times with TERRIBLE results. i cant remember the artist name but he does beautiful wildlife using this technique. it seems simple enough, though i cant seem to achieve it, so i am looking forward to learning what i am doing wrong.

Fabulous job Paulette! These were photos of my old dog, now dead, but your drawing brings him back to life again. I love that you've added more colours into the mix too which add depth to the fur.

Your observation skills are just great in this. In the photo, if you look very closely, you'll see the dog had the house in his view, obviously waiting to come in.

Planning is a HUGE part of getting a drawing to look good. My method does have extra steps involved in line drawing, transferring, whisker placement etc. Yes very lovely drawings can be done without all the preparation, but then generally aren't high realism which is what I go for.

NVA, good to hear you're so industrious. I love drawing late at night when its quiet.

Kay, the process is fairly straightforward when you see it and do it. You may be thinking of Mike Sibley who does amazing animal portraits in graphite. I have his book From Line to Life and its like my bible Try this explanation from JD Hillberry which may give you some more information. I'll post a demo of how to indent whiskers later today.

allrighty then..

here is my attempt.. i think the black is too black around the eyes. i am also wondering about the way the iris is highlighted..should i NOT put white there?
thanks in advance

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Here is my fist exercise...I'm not very happy about it, I think is doesn't not have enought depth.
Anyway I'll leave it up to you Jeanette, to jugde

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Kay I think you've done a good job on these eyes and you've got great insight simply because you can see where you may have gone wrong. That's a good thing and shows that you're observing well.

If you look really carefully at the eye, you'll see the reflection is of the house and that there are no bright white catchlights reflected on the surface of the eye. The reflections in these eyes is softer, as it was a dull overcast day. I see greys or blues in that reflection in the eye. Also look at the placement of the pupil in the photo. It covers more of the eye is is more central. In your drawing its more to the top of the eye so he looks like he's looking up, where in reality he's looking ahead.

You can soften the black around the eye to make it look more natural. Blues to indicate sheen on the skin and introduce some reds, browns and yellow ochre perhaps where the fur feathers into the skin to make that smooth transition. Remember to keep your pencil needle sharp when adding detail to fur.

Clara, this is coming on really well. I love the look of the skin surrounding the eye, its very well done. I'd agree that the eye looks a little flat because you haven't got strong contrasting values in the eye. Look again at the eye reference, increase it in size on your computer if you can and see just what colours are there, as well as shapes of those colours within the eye. That will help guide you in what colours you should be using and where.

Keep thinking that the eye is a globe and needs to be shaded to make it round. Study your reference piece carefully to determine what colours are actually in it and where they are placed. Don't guess and don't let your mind tell you what should be there. Go by what you actually see in front of you, no matter how odd you may think it looks as you do it.



I see reds, greens, blues, purples, ochre, orange in the eye.

thanks jeanette, back to the ol drawing board

I tryed thes eyes so many times but i don't know what im doing wrong! They kinda look good but something is always off
These are my attemptsin order of being drawn:

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Here is my nose. I tried to do more planning, I transferred the sketch and tried to work on dark areas first.
I'll have to reread how to negative draw.
My patience level was lower today so the lines and extra details are a bit rough.
It is on smooth bristol, about 3x3".

I think I procrastinated enough starting my practice and since I am going to draw a cat here it is my first study of a kitty from drawing reference provided by Jeanette above.
http://www.drawspace.com/forums/index.php?...st&id=14085

It is my first attempt ever at drawing a cat in any medium from a reference.I used Caran d'Ache Cp on Canson mi teintes drawing pad 8.5x11in.

Elena that is beautiful especially for a very first kitty, clara yours looks very accurate, and fredbo your attempts are very nice but the pics are like waaaaaay so big when i clicked on them. paulette your doggy eye and nose look very real. I have enlarged the photo of the doggy eyes and shall give her another go.

wow this is sure going to be fun, besides the very good learning experience its nice to see how others do their work, helps us to see what we do wrong too

Thanks Kay, I think everyone is doing a great job,

Jeanette, thank you, yes I will have to add some more colors to my eye. I did add some purple, pink and green,that is what I saw on the monitor on a close up look, but was afraid to add to much, I guess I should'n have been afraid ! I'll try to add some more.

Thanks Kay. First impression is that with practice and patience one can draw realistic looking animals.Like all things new first time intimidates us by the complexity of a subject. But in reality is not that hard to do it right.

Every piece we draw is one step closer Kay. You're doing great with it.

Fred, these are great eyes with lots of potential! The colours you've used are well chosen and you have an eye for matching values. I think that you may be rushing it a little and not really observing the shapes of the colours and shadows that make up the eye and that's what may make you think its off a little.

Could you make your files a little smaller please so they're easier to download and view? My second question is, what coloured pencils are you using and what type of paper? Both will have an impact on the final outcome and the control you have over your drawing. It almost looks like oil pastels for the thickness of strokes and blending.

Coloured pencil needs to be applied with a light pressure and many layers to get that luminous glow of each colour coming through, almost like watercolours in some ways. You should also keep your pencil tip very sharp, especially when drawing the fur, to get those details.

Paulette, I know some days just aren't drawing days and things don't work out quite as they should. But its only paper and tomorrow arrives soon enough. You're going in the right direction with the nose. Its very subtle the changes in values for the dog's nose. Negative drawing will work with the darkest areas. Just draw the nostrils and the shape around the nose and you're well on the way. Just watch for any outlining and the texture of the nose. If you don't see it, don't put it in.

Elena, this is a lovely start for your first cat. You've built up the eye colour nicely. Just watch when you blend so that the layers blend seamlessly into each other without any abrupt changes.

Also check the angle of the eye as compared to the reference and the distance between the eyes and the nose. I like to drop imaginary lines from various points in a portrait to make sure features line up and the likeness is there. You've made good progress on the fur, but take your time and work up your layers slowly so that the values make up the bone structure under the fur of the animal.

Fabulous work everyone! I'm so impressed with your abilities and eagerness to get into this. Thank you!

here is attempt #2; perhaps i shall try a different set of eyes? would that make a difference, and what of the colorless blender, should i not be using that quite so often? you were right about the stonehenge too, it really does suck up the color. any hoot i do like these eyes better than the first and really wish i had a circle template. *sigh* next order

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pardon the low light, it is p.m. here and the best i can do till morning.

Also it seems with stonehenge the color disappears and lots of layers are needed where as with bristol i tend to get a build up too quickly and end up too waxy too soon. so i need to find that happy medium..

Thank you so much, Jeanette. I guess that i was able to eliminate my fears today.Thanks to you.

Here's my first attempt at the eye. I need much more work with it. I tried to get that glassy look of the eyeball and the haze . Maybe I need more shadow and of course the lid. Thanks.
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everyone is working so hard....GOOD!! that's the spirit

Jeanette,
I've added some more colour to my eye ball, how does it look now?

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This looks wonderful Kay. I especially like the right eye (viewer's right). Remember to look very often at the reference image that you're using, don't rely on your mind's interpretation for realistic drawing. The changes in values in the dog's eyes are so subtle and you need to see them as shapes. This is the principle of negative drawing. You draw the shape around an object, not the object. This helps your mind break away from trying to label things and lets you draw more accurately.

Kay, why don't you find another reference of an eye, a cat perhaps, and see what you can do with that? Its a matter of experimenting to see what paper is best for you. Also a very light pressure is used in coloured pencil to get the desired effect. Heavy pressure is rarely warranted. A surface that I often use is mi-tientes paper, but the smooth side only. The textured side is horrible for coloured pencil. It has some tooth and comes in a variety of colours.

Blending...well, it can be useful, but personally, I tend to stay away from it, especially in animal drawings. Yes, it can help blend the strokes to create a smooth eye, but beginners often use blenders far too much and they become a substitute for developing good drawing skills. I believe that its better to fully understand how the medium of cp works and what you can achieve with your pencils before you try blending. In fact, in classes that I teach for beginners in cp I ban blenders entirely til individuals can master the techniques.

I'm glad it helped Elena. Keep going...

This is a great start Tommy, you've got the base values in place, now you need to start developing it with detail and more layers.

Look closely at the reference image and see where you need to bump up your values. The changes in values are what creates the 3 dimensional look to the eye and surrounding fur. Start introducing colours into the fur and draw it in short lines, always in the direction that the fur grows. Keep your pencil sharp and look at your reference for guidance and you'll do just fine.

Clara, I think the colour definitely gives some punch to this eye. It looks very good. My suggestion would be to glaze over the coloured sections lightly with a white pencil to make them a little paler. Due to the cloudy day that the photo was taken on, there aren't bright white catchlights on the eye, so the values are subtle as are the colours in them.

Hi Jeanette (I find your name difficult to write, because my daughter is Janette, and she hates when people spell it wrongly!)
Here are my attempts at the eye and nose. I found them quite difficult as I don't usually put so much effort in. I'm not sure if my coloured pencils are good enough, but that could be the case of a bad workman blaming his tools.

Norma, you've done a wonderful job on these. Your values and colours are well chosen. I especially think you've done well with the nose. The eye takes a lot of careful blending of one colour into the other to give the illusion of a smooth, wet surface. Try practicing getting one colour to blend into another without a distinct line to show the point of change. Also carefully observe the shapes that make up the values on the surface of the eye and how they change to reflect either the colour of the iris, the pupil or the reflected environment.

Coloured pencil is not a quick method of drawing and your pencil brand as well as the paper that you use will affect your outcome. Also pressure is a big factor too. CP is built up of many layers of colour using a light touch.

Here is a link from my blog that shows the progression of a portrait of a vulture that I drew in coloured pencil. It will give you an idea of how the colour is built. The drawing up to this point would have taken perhaps 2-3 hours. Here is the final piece. Note that there is no heavy pressure being used in the strokes that make up the feathers.

wonderful vulture Jeanette:)

Here is my eye again, I've added some white over the colours as you suggested, it looks a little paler now, is it enought?

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I was going to start the nose this afternoon, but my 9 year old neighbour asked for help with his English homework, And I never say no, so no drawing this afternoon!
I will give it a try later, I gott a lamp with better light, and hope it will be enought, if not I will work on it tomorrow.

It looks great Clara. Just keep practicing on getting smooth transitions in your shading, especially on smooth surfaces like eyes so they look like they have that glossy surface.

Good luck with the English homework! I'm sure you'll do wonderfully well with it.

jeanette, i just came from your site, and one big word to you WOW..you are one very skilled and talented lady and i feel honored to have you taking time to show us some things here.. i think i am in love with your little orangutang..all of your work is pretty incredible..

hello
thanks Jeneatte, the homework went just fine, its just beginners English.
I also do some powerpoint to help out the kids, so they enjoy studying


I did my first try at the nose, but how do we do the white fur around it? and is it OK? or what can I do to make it better?


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Kay, thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed some of the work. Eric the orangutan is cute, isn't he, all wrapped up in himself like that.

Clara, the nose is looking good. Just deepen the values on the upper section just over the nostrils and it will be fine. As for the hair above the nose, keep doing what you're doing. Add the values generally then start defining detail with a sharp pencil til you get the effect you want.

I still can't add more images to this post so I've put a quick demo of the dog's nose in my photobucket gallery. the scan isn't great. I don't like scans much for CP work, it turns out very grainy.

Cat fur practice. I got frustrated with her coat's colors and the absence of ears to give me the feeling of drawing a cat.But anyway, it's practice only.

Ok I finally got sometime inbetween dealing with life, death and an active pup to get this done. I am not really satisfied with it and welcome some help with it. This is much harder than it looks but this is something I have wanted to accomplish for years now. I used the Bristol vellum paper and the Primascolor pencils. I have the Canson Mi-Tentes paper but I haven't tried it yet. I used about 20 some of the pencils and tried to build on the colors but somehow to me it just looks like a mesh of pencil marks not fur and the eye looks rather dull. P.S. This will be my subject if I can convince her to sit still for a decent pic. !! I lost 3 senior dogs this year alone and this is the new love of my life.

This is my first try. I don't know how to get it darker after scanning because you can't see the blues and light pinks (mainly around the nose).
I have to go to the dentist now and don't know how I am feeling after this.


PS. I think the admin did the MB upload higher to 10 MB.

Hi Jeanette,
I've tried to add more values like you say and blend at the same time. I think I may have gotten too low a contrast as it seems too dark to me. Maybe I should work on shadowing more.

It's sometime difficult to keep it all in mind as I work although I guess that comes with practice,
practice, practice as they say. I am beginning to notice the enormous difference a sharp point makes and
find myself sharpening much more. Click to view attachment

I really like how you did the vulture in stages to show the progression. It really helps me see
how the process works.

Thanks much !
Tom

Elena, its looking good. You seem to understand the concept of drawing fur. What frustrated you about the fur? The process or the image? Coloured pencil is a slow medium to apply and I find working smaller sections at a time is the only way to do it. My suggestion would be to keep adding to the values to give the fur some depth and keep your pencil sharp. Drawing fur is a slow process so allow yourself time to do it.

Coloured pencil drawings always go through stages, like many other drawings. It reaches a point where you hate it and don't want to look at it, then you keep going and it transforms into the swan it was meant to be.

So look at another section of fur in your reference and really examine it. In this piece you're recreating the drawing that I did. That's fine but you need to examine fur from an animal and see how you interpret it. Draw in the direction of the fur, keep your pencil sharp and rely on what your eyes see, not what your mind tells you is there.

Nancy, I think you're doing well on this. You have some base values down and your colour choices are good, but you're not done yet.

Coloured pencil needs lots of layers, especially in our furry friends before it comes together and looks as it should. So I'd say keep adding your layers. Go slow, observe the shapes in the eye carefully and draw them as they are represented.

When it comes to the fur, you have the base colour, now start adding short lines in the direction the fur grows to start giving detail to him. It will take time, so accept that and just work a small section at a time. You'll get there!

Your new doggie friend looks sweet. I can identify with keeping them still long enough to take a photo...

Goldlaus, from what I can see on my monitor, you're headed in the right direction on these pieces. My advice here is similar to what I have said to others. This is your base on which you need to build colours and values to define the shapes.

Take your time, carefully observe your reference and apply what you see to your drawing. Use short lines to represent the fur and draw them in the direction that the fur grows.

Good luck with the dentist. I hope it goes well for you.

Tom, the eye is coming on beautifully. You've got that hazy catchlight and reflection in it as well as the pupil around the edges of the reflection.

Look carefully at the fur around the eye and how it grows to tie it in and give the dog character. Also look at the direction of fur growth. In your eye, the fur is growing almost in a circle, but in reality it would grow in direction almost like a clock face if that makes sense.

And yes, practice really is the key to all drawing or learning new mediums.

Click to view attachment

This is my dog Gracie's nose.
I did better this time at starting with the dark colours and defining the hair.
Although this doesn't show as much as it might because I started getting to rough with my pencil.
If I am going to do Gracie, which is my plan I will have to find a load of patience. And I think a different paper, I am not liking the bristol smooth. (3x3")

Jeanette, just wanted to say thank you, for your comments and time. It is much appreciated.

Hello Jeanette,

my husband did a new scan with my first try. I think you can better see the strokes. Need the eye itself more saturation? Thanks for looking again.

Hello Jeanette,

my husband did a new scan with my first try. I think you can better see the strokes. Need the eye itself more saturation? Thanks for looking again.