Saving Puggy Potter

Today I went back to a drawing of a pug - just to finish it off ... and totally wrecked it. It's not a rare event ... it happens .... I just went at it with no thought and what started out as a knitted jacket turned in to a total smudgy mess. So the options are ... 1. the bin .... 2. try and salvage something.

Scissors and paper at the ready!

Cover up the failed jacket with a paper cape.

I decided to try and salvage something ... nothing to lose - so it was actually really relaxing to get a bit creative with it. I keep scraps of paper that I like along with other bits and pieces so I just played around for a bit ... and this happened. Hope you like it...

Complete with hat and paper bloomers!

You're a wizard Puggy Potter!

Monday is Pug Day ... or How I Draw Pugs

The start of the week can be a stumbling block for me ... just getting going! So I've gone back to one of the small drawings I did for my "Draw Every Day For A Year" as a starting point. Surprise surprise it's a pug .... but you can see the stages below from rough drawing to coloured piece at the end. I always do the initial drawings on layout paper (or marker pad paper ...the Letraset one is pretty good and easily available here in NL) The paper is nice and smooth and easy to do the many corrections I need to do!!! (you can actually see all the corrections on the first drawing where lines have been at the wrong angle ... or just ...wrong!)

Initial rough drawing ... you can see all the mistakes too ...

When I'm happy with the rough drawing ... I use a light box to trace through and add extra details like the collar. Then the light box again to transfer it on to a good quality paper. I find if you're using coloured pencil and you want a smooth finish .. then smooth surface heavy weight cartridge paper is pretty good (I use windsor and Newton 220gsm)

                        

 drawing with collar and crown(left) and final pug (right)

Then all thats left to do is add the colour. 

I used a mixture of Caran D'ache Pablo and Prismacolor for this one.

Finally just blend the colours with a colourless blender and then a burnisher to stop smudging (Derwent do some decent ones)  And thats it! TaDaah!

Thanks for looking in again.

Comments welcome!

Collars and Crowns

It's been a pretty productive week drawing wise. I was getting really stuck in a rut with a story I'm working on so I decided to work on some stuff to go in the Etsy store instead. I've also been trying to stick to my "A drawing a day for a year" ... and so far so good ... There have been a couple of days where I wouldn't have done anything otherwise ... so give it a go -  it helps get rid of that monday morning "creative stutter".

So I've been working on new Pugs and Bears for the store ... which I hope to re-stock and open again very soon. All done in pencil ... Caran D'Ache Pablo and Prismacolour ... and trying to bring the Pugs along a little with better faces and bodies. As for the book ... I'll keep plugging away!!

art illustration pug and bear