Charcoal & pencil hounds

[bunn]

I did some drawing while I was in Wales.

This one is from a photo, drawn with a charcoal pencil.  I quite like this one.



These aren't so good, but I DID draw them from life quite quickly which I think is harder than drawing from a photo.  Also, they are pencil, and I think it's harder to get nice results with pencil than charcoal because the contrast isn't so good.


Mollydog snoozes in pencil.  I quite like this one, was trying for something a bit more stylised.


Oh dear.  It's a long time since I drew anything in pen and ink, and I don't think I was ever much good at it. This was a reasonable pencil sketch until I started to ink it, then it all went horribly wrong...


Having done all these hounds, I thought I'd try a Welsh dragonhound hybrid.  It sort of works (possibly because it's in charcoal so has an advantage...? though I do wonder if the wings should be bigger really )

Comments

[clarienne.livejournal.com]

I like those! I've never really got to grips with charcoal, but that first one makes me want to have a go.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

It's awfully messy stuff : I never quite got it for years, it seemed so hard to control!

One of my recently read drawing books had an exercise where you sharpen a charcoal and make a pile of dust and chippings, then you tip the dust and bits onto a page and draw with your fingers. I don't think I'd quite got before that drawing with the dust and smudges is all part of it, you aren't trying for a perfectly clean line. Now I like the element of serendipity that comes with that.