Drawing Skills: Part 2 Project 5 Ex 1b

Animal line study

I wanted to see if I could apply the same framework principle to my sitting hare photograph. I began by using the skeleton image from the last post.

I drew in the framework

And then put flesh on the bones.

This isn't the most brilliant depiction of a hare but I feel that I have established a way to draw not only a hare but most animals.

I think the next thing to do is to try to get some life into my hare. I used my pastels and tried to put into practice what I have learnt.

One startled hare

I stupidly began my image too high up the page and ran out of room for the ears - the most distinctive part of the hare! I think I've been a little to heavy handed with the whiskers but I'm pleased with the texture and the colours of the fur. I like the eyes as well.

My final task in this exercise is to make a large drawing using the knowledge I've gained in my close look at a hare. I've chosen to use white A2 paper in portrait format and decided to draw a hare in a pose of alertness that would emphasise its power. I don't know whether I was having a bad day but at first I just couldn't get anything even approaching a hare with attitude. Eventually I went back to a method that's worked for me before - I taped a pencil to a long stick and just drew. (First I lightly drew my framework).

Free drawing at arms length plus a bit

This felt a bit better and I built up a texture of fur by holding my pencil at the very end. I needed to tweak some of the shapes a bit but slowly my hare came to life.

I used pencil, soft pastel and conte crayons for the hare. Unlike my photo I thought it would be more interesting to make the surroundings more varied than just grass. I found it tricky to differentiate between the grass and the undergrowth so I did it by using colour in the form of a red berberis and a few flowers.

The garden was done in two parts. Part one was the top which I printed with watered acrylic paint using a bit of packaging. Later the flowers were done in soft pastel. The grass was a base of rubbed soft pastel overlaid with a combination of soft pastel and conte crayon blades of grass.

I felt happy with my hare portrait but I don't get the same feeling about this. I think maybe the idea of giving the hare a context was a bit daunting and I didn't give it the amount of care I should have. When I look back at my photo of the hare I have managed to capture the alertness the hare showed to its environment.

My photo

Ready for action

If I'd felt more confident about it I think it would have been wiser from the composition point of view to have the hare at an angle to the viewer. This is another first - I've never drawn animals before so I'm not too unhappy.

I remembered seeing a famous painting of a hare a long time ago and it took me some time to find it. It is by Albrecht Durer and was completed in 1502 and is in watercolour and gouache.

Young hare by Albrecht Durer - 1502
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Hare

The text told me that Durer faced the same challenges as me - the hares fur lies in all directions and it is mottled all over with a variety of colours. He made a very good job of his work - it's almost a scientific study.

I also found this lovely site showing lots of animals:

http://vlstudiovisits.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/kimberly-santini-capturing-light-with.html

On the site Santini offers us another image not of a hare but a rabbit. It is treated in a very different way.