I have a picture of a gryphon that I drew, but am having a hard time adding in a background. A friend of mine said I should have done the background first. Is this right, and is there a way of adding one in now without ruining the sketch? Any advice is welcome! Thanks!

Raiva,

There really is no right or wrong way...we all do things differently. Some start with the background...some start with the focal point...it just depends on how you feel comfortable working. When adding a background you have to be careful of the trasitions from your subject to areas directly connected to your subject. You don't want to create an area that looks like a "halo" around your subject. If your trying something new always practice on a seperate sheet of paper before applying it to your work in progress.

Good Luck...hope to see this soon!
Laura

Thanks for the fast reply! I've taken some photo copies of the sketch, which I'm using for practice, but so far I've gotten the 'halo' look you talked about. Foreground is a problem for me. But I'll keep trying. I did get in a nice leaf though! lol

Hopefully though I can soon get a friend to scan in my sketch for me. I'm having to use a public library computer for the time being, so I can't do it here *sigh*

Thanks again!
Raiva