Shevin's Art

Tiger Complete

2009-08-18T20:11:00.004-06:00

The tiger is finished! It is approximately 9" x 11" on Fabriano Artistico paper. I didn't have to struggle using this paper, which was wonderful. Thank you Clive for the paper-type suggestion. Hope you all like "Luna". Now to figure out what to draw next???

Tiger WIP 4

2009-08-06T07:32:00.003-06:00

I promised a few people I would have an update of the tiger's progress last night. So here it is, a little late on the promise :) Since the last update, I have done adjustments on the chin and a few other little adjustments on other parts already done. We'll see if anyone but me notices those ;) Then I have done the obvious work on the face. I have been mainly using 2H, HB and 2B leads.

Tiger WIP 3

2009-08-04T17:54:00.003-06:00

Another update since last night. Enjoy!

Tiger WIP 2

2009-07-31T07:40:00.003-06:00

Here is the update on the tiger.

Tiger WIP 1

2009-07-11T21:15:00.003-06:00

I have finally started another drawing. Here is the progress on the drawing so far. I will try to take a better photo of it with actual light tomorrow. This is the Siberian Tiger, Luna, from Zoo Montana. Unfortunately she passed away on Sunday, June 28th of this year.

Cooper's Hawk Finished

2009-01-02T16:38:00.004-07:00

Here is the completed drawing of the Cooper's Hawk. It is 5" x 7".

Cooper's Hawk WIP2-3

2009-01-02T10:40:00.005-07:00

Here are two more images as I have been working on this hawk (taken with my cell phone camera ~ sorry for the picture quality).

Cooper's Hawk WIP1

2008-12-10T17:49:00.006-07:00

I have began drawing a Cooper's Hawk. Here is the progress so far, a light outline and some light shading.

Firefly ~ The Alpaca

2008-09-29T07:55:00.005-06:00

I just completed this drawing of "Firefly", a blue-eyed alpaca belonging to Lunatic Fringe Alpacas. I thought she was just beautiful, especially those eyes! I seriously thought of adding a little blue somehow to this drawing. I'm calling it complete for now, but may still change my mind and add some blue tint. Still debating. This drawing is close to 5" x 7". I will edit this post later when I remember to see what paper I used (hahaha--I have so many samples to try, I have no idea what I'm using??). I liked this paper. I thought it took darks fairly well. The only problem is that repeat layers did seem to bring up fibers of the paper. Soooo, still not the perfect paper for me, but definitely something I would purchase and use again.

Thank you Donna for showing us your alpacas and letting me take a few good pictures.

The original drawing is for sale. Please contact me for price.

Britt Completed

2008-09-15T15:17:00.003-06:00

"Britt", the Chihuahua, is finished. Took me a couple days to get this image on here, but better late than never right. I'm going to have to try a different paper for the next mini I do. I don't think this paper is very good for getting the tone differences that I am capable of getting with each pencil.

Britt ~ Chihuahua Drawing WIP 1

2008-09-04T20:41:00.002-06:00

I have been seeing some "mini" drawings lately and thought I'd give it a try :)
This drawing is of a Chihuahua named Britt. It is 4" x 6". Britt belongs to my Aunt Ivy of Lamars Doghouse. The picture I am using to draw from was taken by Ivy. I thought Britt would be a perfect subject to draw for a mini drawing, since she is pretty mini herself :)

Rabbit Is Complete

2008-08-08T07:56:00.003-06:00

The Rabbit drawing is finally complete. I have come to the conclusion that I am not meant to draw so much confusing ground cover. It was overwhelming. I will need to work on some way of simplifying, or drawing to give the effect of something without actually drawing in all the detail. That will be something to work on at a later time, though, on a different drawing. I actually didn't mind the pine needles that were still on the branches :) I just didn't like the pine needles that were on the ground. This drawing is appoximately 8" x 10".

Rabbit WIP 5

2008-06-22T17:37:00.005-06:00

More updates as of today on the rabbit. I need to hurry up and get this little guy (or gal) done. Then on to the next project. For some reason I can't seem to do more than one drawing at a time.

Rabbit WIP 4

2008-05-21T06:49:00.004-06:00

I haven't posted in a while (nice weather, new camera lens, whatever my excuse may be). I have worked on my rabbit off and on and thought I better post the progress, so here it is as of today:

Rabbit WIP 3

2008-03-23T13:39:00.002-06:00

Here is the latest progress on the rabbit drawing. It seemed to take forever to draw in all those pine needles. I can't believe how the time seemed to pass while I was drawing in all the tones in the needles. Yikes! Not sure exactly what area of this drawing I'm going to work on next. For some reason the fur scares me, but I think that the ground cover is going to be even more scary. So may opt for the fur next.

Rabbit WIP 2

2008-03-20T11:17:00.005-06:00

Continuing on with the rabbit...I always start with the eyes, so I have shaded in the eye and then much of the dark areas around the rabbit. At least this scan shows the drawing better. It's so difficult to scan just the outline.

Rabbit WIP 1

2008-03-19T20:31:00.008-06:00

OK I have started the drawing on the rabbit I took a photograph of in Yellowstone National Park. I believe it is a Mountain Cottontail (Sylvilagus nuttallii). I have an outline of the rabbit done and most of the tree branches I plan on shading in with the most detail completed. The ground cover still needs to be outlined in. Here are a couple images of the progress so far. The first image I have edited from the scan so you can see it a little better. The second image shows it more as it looks right now (the scanner has added a little bit of darker areas where it is actually supposed to be the white of the paper...don't know why and figured these images were good enough to serve this purpose). Maybe one day I'll get the scanner figured out better :) {Click on the images to see them slightly larger. I realize it is very difficult to see, but that's what is needed at this point of the drawing phase. When the images are viewed a little larger, you'll be able to see the detail better.}

Next Project: Rabbit

2008-03-18T12:31:00.003-06:00

I've finally decided on my next drawing. I took a great picture of a rabbit last year at Yellowstone National Park (at least my opinion it is a great reference picture). It is going to be a challenge for me that's for sure, but it will give me good practice on different textures. I'm sure I need the challenge. It will also be the first rabbit I've drawn. Yikes! Soft hair of the rabbit, coarse texture of the bark on the branches on the ground, and smooth texture of the pine needles on the tree it's laying next to/under, are all going to be a challenge. I think I'm most nervous about the rabbit's fur though. I will need patience.

"Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish." ~John Quincy Adams

For some reason, I'm not so sure patience will make the difficulties of this disappear, but I'm sure patience will help. I'll find some time to begin this drawing and update as I go.

"Someday" Is Completed

2008-03-06T21:53:00.003-07:00

I have finally completed the drawing for the Ducks Unlimited Auction. That was quite the task drawing the reeds/grass and water. The finished product turned out quite well though. Now to frame it so it's ready to go to some lucky bidder.

I am in the process of testing out new papers ~ trying to find the "perfect" one. The paper I used for this drawing is Fabriano Rosaspina, which is 60% cotton, acid-free paper. It has a neutral pH to resist aging. It's also a very heavy weight (220 gsm). Although this is great archival quality paper, it does have a very slight texture to it. I prefer very smooth paper. Other graphite artists like texture on their paper, but I don't. Sometimes the texture gets in the way of the texture I'm trying to create. I found it very difficult to get the shades I was used to getting when drawing on other paper using the same pencils. The shades were always lighter than on other paper. Sometimes the lighter shade was good, but I found it very frustrating when I was trying to get very dark tones. My pencil of choice is the Staedtler mechanical pencil. It is so much more consistent than the normal "pencil". However, I found when using my favorite Staedtler mechanical pencil, it would leave an indent in the paper and then be very difficult to add more tones on top of those indents, no matter how lightly I pressed on the paper. I had to resort to using my other Derwent graphic pencils (that I use very rarely now since finding the mechanical pencils). The Derwent pencils worked better though and I had softer grades to use which allowed me to get darker tones. I also seemed to keep seeing fibers from this paper as I was drawing. The more I went over a spot to add more tone, the more the fibers were evident, and also when trying to blend the graphite. I hadn't had that problem before...This was the first time I used the Fabriano Rosaspina paper, I will use the last sheet of this paper at one point in time, and then I doubt I will purchase or use it again.

Ducks Unlimited Drawing

2008-03-03T22:23:00.002-07:00

I began the task of shading in the reeds and grass today. There is still quite a bit of work to do on that part. Here is the progress so far.

Ducks Unlimited Drawing Continued

2008-03-02T19:24:00.003-07:00

Today I continued work on the Ducks Unlimited drawing. I shaded in the Bufflehead and a little of the reflection/water.

A little closer view of the Bufflehead:

Ducks Unlimited Drawing Started

2008-03-02T08:48:00.004-07:00

I have begun work on a donation for Ducks Unlimited. It is a Yellow Lab Puppy peaking out of the reeds at a Bufflehead swimming by. I thought that would be a cute idea...The scan below shows what I have completed so far on the drawing.

Here is a little closer view of the puppy...

Winter Wolf Is Complete

2008-02-27T16:47:00.005-07:00

"Winter Wolf" is complete! Last night I put the finishing touches on the landscape. The finished original pencil drawing is 11" x 14". Below is a close up of the head which shows the details better (including the snow on the tip of the nose).

Winter Wolf

2008-02-26T10:24:00.006-07:00

I have been working on a drawing of a wolf for a friend of mine and thought I'd post a couple pictures of it's progress. When it's complete I'll get a good scan of it to post. I should have it done very soon :) At least I better if I'm going to get it to her in time.

This first picture is the completed wolf drawing before the background was added. I always get nervous before adding the background, because if I mess up the background, then I have also messed up the main focus of the drawing.

In this case, I'm actually really happy with the background so far. After a few hours working on the wintery, rugged mountains last night, this is the result:

Tonight I plan on adding a few trees and finishing the shading of the moon ~ I wasn't pleased with the first attempt at that :(

Pen And Ink Eagles

2008-02-21T20:58:00.005-07:00

I have been experimenting some lately with pen drawings. It's been fun and I plan on doing many more. I hope you enjoy these bald eagle heads just recently completed. They have already been added to some apparel at my Zazzle Store. I think they would make great Eagle Tattoos also. If you're interested, please let me know.

Here are a few of the products I've created with these designs at my Zazzle Store.