Step Five of “Winston” 0
Winston is beginning to gray ever so slightly. It is of course most evident in his muzzle which requires saving some white hairs amongst the dark. Some of this can be obtained by negative drawing, but for stray singular hairs, it is best to use a stylus to indent the paper and preserve the whites. There is also a good deal of texturing in the muzzle in the form of wrinkles and the pits where his whiskers come out of his face. I have continued to draw his whiskers with fast continuous strokes. I try to put them in the same length and placement as I see in the photo, but it is better to have the whiskers look right from an artistic perspective than truely an accurate depiction from the photo. They have been comming out pretty close to the photo, but not exactly. It is however, not a concern. Close is close enough. He also has what we call “the lip puff” in this pose. That’s just where one of his lips gets stuck on his jaw and it looks like it is puffed out a little bit. I have used pencils in grades b and 2b with really dark areas put in with the 9xxB. His chin and lower jaw is similarly completed but with a bit more negative drawing rather than stylus use as the white hairs are a bit more massed.
You can see I have re-drawn some of my transferred line drawing because it was so faint and since I’ll be drawing shadows in these areas I needn’t be too concerned with a heavier drawing. With only the fur and shadows of his neck left the next post will be the completed portrait.