I need help on a drawing of Tatiana, a beautiful and regal tiger who sadly was shot after defending herself against people who were teasing and taunting her. I have a reference photo if needed, not a very good one.

The details of the tiger, I'm pretty satisfied with. But now comes the hard part, where I leave the realm of copyist and think like an artist. The background on the original photo was really uninteresting, so I created the bamboo and will add a suggestion of water at the bottom of the drawing. It just seemed to be a happier place for her.

The drawing is about 2/3 complete and I'm already in trouble.

She just isn't jumping off the page at the viewer and I'm wondering what to do to bring her out. Have I detailed the background too much, so that it detracts from the tiger? I'm sure I need to darken her stripes and deepen some of the shadows. She also seems to "fade" around the top and right side of her head and get lost in the background again. Lighten the background or darken the tiger? Or something else entirely?

Help!! I'm really excited about this drawing and want to do it right the first time. Need suggestions, directions, comments, most of all criticism. Thanks - and as always - be brutal, I can take it.
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I think you've created a wonderful drawing of a beautiful animal.

To bring her forward, you will need to deepen the values of the animal itself. Once shading is deeper and colours darker, the background will recede and she will be the focal point. Right now, all the values are similar so there is no definition of foreground and background. There should be no white of the paper to show a light colour in the fur, all fur should have at least a base layer of graphite. Once you deepen shadows and fur patterning, the lighter areas will still read as 'white'. Keep the pure white of the paper for catchlights in the eye or in any area where light would hit moisture and reflect.

So keep the background muted and concentrate your efforts of developing the tiger more in terms of darkening values.

Thanks Jeannette! I'm going to sharpen my 8B and 9B pencils and get to work. I'll post again soon!

This is really looking great!

Thanks you guys!! I started at lunch break darkening and darkening some more and she's already getting more personality. I enjoy using all my pencils but usually need encouragement to really get those deep tones. This is the first drawing I've really been excited about for a while - I'm going to let the housework go this weekend and draw!

If You realize the advice from Jeannette :

I can see that will be a masterful picture

( and by the way = drawing is always better than housework on weekend )

Thank you to everyone for your kind compliments and helpful suggestions. I went back to work with sharpened pencils and a blending stump. I softened the background a lot - hard for me to do since I really enjoyed creating it and worked pretty hard on the detail - but it took away from the subject, so out it goes! I've deepened the shadows as much as I felt comfortable doing - using 8B and 9B pencils almost exclusively. She's done for now - all that remains is to add her whiskers with an eraser.

What do I need to do from here? Again - be brutal, I'm tough.

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NC Girl, you have really done a fabulous job on this, I love it! Jeannette is right though, you need to darken some areas even more. For instance, you know where the tiger's armpit is... that should be dark... below his chin... dark... then the tiger will seem more 3 dimensional.
You can also create depth by sending elements further pack on the picture plane by making them lighter and lighter as they recede and less detailed. Right now the tones are all too much the same. You should aim for 2/3 dark and 1/3 light or 1/3 dark and 2/3 light. Also, have you considered making the tigers eyes the focal point by putting them into a focal point area... the composition would be much stronger if the tiger wasn't in the middle. I have taken your drawing and cropped it to show you what I mean, but I couldn't get the eyes in the exact focal area. This is a fantastic drawing and I can tell, a subject that really means a lot to you... keep going! You're almost there!

NCgirl, I've taken the liberty of adjusting the contrasts in your image. I'm wondering if what I see in the original drawing is more washed out on the computer screen than the reality of the drawing? I've also reduced the file size to help others with slower systems in viewing this.

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You have pushed the tiger forward more by darkening it and softening the background. As Tannis said, you can go even darker with this. As you're using global shading instead of creating the fur texture you can deepen the shadows. For example in the forearm of the tiger on the viewer's right, there is a subtle hint of where the bone is, you can increase that shading to give more solidity to it.

As I mentioned previously, there shouldn't be any white paper showing unless there is extreme highlighting on the animal. Even what you believe should be white generally isn't. It needs a 'wash' of graphite to tone it down.

You've modelled the body beautifully in markings etc, but what I don't see is a strong light direction. So if there is orange fur on the tiger's face for instance, it should also show darker shading to indicate the muscle and bone under the fur and skin. Does that make sense? The tonal range is too similar throughout the body to give a really strong definition of features.

I think you've done an ace job so far and tackled a complex piece. Have a look at your reference again, increase the size so you can really see shading, posterize it if necessary, then work on the shadows a bit more to really give this animal presence.

You can do it! The end is in sight.

Yes, exactly Jeannette...NC Girl, i know that you are afraid of the dark but as you can see, darkening sometimes just means adding a bit here and there. It makes such a difference and will give your work more depth... keep going, I really want to see it the end result, you are doing fantastic!

Thanks Tannis and Jeannette - back to the drawing board as they say!

I think my scanner is washing out the tones a little, I'll see if I can get a little higher resolution (and smaller file size, sorry about that!) on the next scan. Jeannette you're right, there isn't a clear indication of light source - I looked at the photo and there's not much there - but photographers don't like shadows where artists do. I need to create shadows where there aren't any and give Tatiana some definite form. I'll work on her face, may have to look at other tiger faces to get a clearer idea of where the shadow would fall (or I can just set one of my cats under the light ) Tannis, yes, I think pulling more color out of the background will help too. (but I worked on the background so hard - created it from imagination and bamboo in my back yard - it's gotta go though!)

Ok - I was going to put this aside today to work on a little crisis here at the job, but on second thought, let someone else handle that - I have a tiger to draw!

Love your spirit NC Girl, you definitely have a tiger by the tail About the background, you have done a really nice job of it... and you don't need to totally pull the color out of it, imagine it as if some bamboo is closer to you than others, so those stalks are just a shade darker, and anything farther away of course has less and less detail. I am working on a portrait of my mother-in-law right now, and in the background I am including the house that she was born in. The house is 100 years old and quite distinctive and I wanted to include all of it. But you know I finally realized, it wasn't about the house, the house is the background, it was about the the portrait...the house is interesting, but I don't want the viewer to focus on it. I want the viewer to look at my mother-in- law, glean her personality from the expression on her face ( hopefully), then travel around the picture, taking in the house, the sky etc.... the general mood. Not sure if this helps you at all, to let go, just a bit, of the background...

I know right - once you get on a roll with a drawing it's hard to not include everything! I'll try the bamboo in some other drawing, right now like you said Tannis, the tiger is the focus of the drawing.

Ok - I shaded to show shape of the face (the internet was NO help whatsoever, I found a picture of a kitty-cat and used those shadows as a guide), picked out a few definite shapes on the background to show depth, worked more shadow in the tiger's left arm (right side for viewer) and added whiskers. The whiskers aren't as defined as I wanted, but I think my kneaded eraser is wearing out (if that's possible). I also lightened the top of her head - I've noted on kitty-cat that the head shape is a flattened ball and seems to catch light. I poked and picked here and there with the kneaded eraser anywhere I thought a little light might help. Oh and I darkened under her chin and around the side of her face.

I increased the contrast so you guys can see what I've done and shrinked (?) the picture to 5x7.

Thanks Jeannette and Tannis - you guys are helping me a lot! Where can I improve?

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Just wanted to drop in to say WOW She's gorgeous! The extra shading really helped bring the face forward as the main focus, and her eyes hold so much personality.

Wow! NC Girl, amazing what a little shading and light will do! Do you see how the little extras that you did made a big difference? You have done a wonderful job! There are probably a few more areas that you could add depth to here and there, but what you've done is a huge improvement from the first post! Now, I think it is up to you to decide if you are done! Are you happy with it? You should be!

Sorry I didn't get back on line sooner - I've had a busy day so far! On my way to work, I passed McDonalds and there was a little abandoned puppy sitting beside a telephone pole, shivering in the cold and scared. There were no other dogs around, no one claimed him and I was on the way to the vet with my cat anyway, so he came with me. With 20 cats and one very spoiled Lab mix I really don't need another dog, but maybe he will be a good companion for Sallie.

Tannis, thank you for your kind compliments. Yes, it is truly the attention to small details that make or break a drawing, and I appreciate the guidance from Jeannette and you. You guys have really helped this become a drawing I am proud of. I think I am satisfied with this drawing at this point and am ready to sign it and be done. There's about 5 other projects waiting, so I'll find a frame for this over the weekend and onward to the next drawing!

Thanks Mindy, Ernest and Raidor for dropping in and giving me confidence! Thanks again to Jeannette for your help!

Lucky puppy!

I just wanted to say I am in awe of the background you created for your beautiful tiger.
I think that is the hardest thing to do, you have made it look like it was there in the first place.
Congratulations on a beautiful drawing!

Thank you so much Paulette! I really had fun working on this drawing, especially the background. We have a distant cousin of bamboo that grows wild in our area, so I studied it, then created the larger version - the "flowers" are completely from imagination, I've never seen anything like it in real life.

He is a lucky pup - the way he was tucked up against the pole was very hard to see - I only noticed him because I look both ways at intersections, green light or not and saw something unusual. He's been checked by the vet, and other than a case of worms (which earned him a de-worming shot) he checked out healthy. He's met Sallie and all the cats and seems to be adjusting well.

I really appreciate everyone who has stopped by to look, critique, and compliment!

I used pait to point out a few problems I have, but overall, good job


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