Total Art Soul - for artists

Truly a fine render ~ the wet fur is remarkably executed, but also the reflection on the water (and rippled water, at that). Nothing but kudos as far as I can see on a well done piece!

I love the feel that this has which is probably enhanced by having worked a little looser.

MightyFineArt wrote:
How do you like this piece? Working quite large, I've been trying to loosen up large areas of my drawings, keeping the finer details to the most important part of the subject. I haven't tried water and reflections very often with pencil and in this one I wanted a misty effect (as it's hot water). Heaven In Hell's Valley is a snow monkey or Japanese macaque which are known for spending a lot of time in hot volcanic pools. It's about 22 x 16 inches pencil on Stonehenge paper.

I love this, Peter. The subject matter is different enough to draw attention to it in its own right. I've seen plenty of animal drawings all over the internet but this has to be one of the most unique in my opinion.

As always, you've captured the essence of the reference perfectly but I actually think you go above and beyond the reference photos with many of your drawings anyway. In many ways they often look more real than the actual photo, which may sound daft but I know what i mean.

You've drawn the water and all of its shapes, tones and subtleties with expert precision. Water can be a hard thing to draw and often won't look like water at all once drawn but there's no doubting this as water at all. It looks so liquidy and fluid that i want to dip my toe in to the picture. Don't worry, my feet are clean.

As always you've done a masterful job with the animal. The fur is amazing and I love how it goes from dry to slightly wet to completely wet where it's coming out of the water and you've truly captured that wetness just perfectly. It really looks soaked and dripping wet just at the waterline.

I like how you've tried to get a 'misty' effect to this. I think if I'd drawn this (all that fur scares me) then i may have been tempted to go for a little mor of a 'misty'/steamy effect maybe coming of the monkeys fur where the water is beginning to dry. Of course, I'm not sue how I would have even done that but I guess it's easy to say but hard in practice.

Anyway, it's a stunningly original and beautifully rendered drawing. Inspiring as always.

Matt

Thanks for that in depth critique Matt, much appreciated. I'm not sure how I would create more of a steamy effect either. I just gave it a bit more 'blur' but didn't want to overdo the background in case it overwhelmed the subject.

I'm working on another tiger drawing at the moment and I intend to have him swimming so there will be a similar water effect and reflections as well as a bit of wet fur. However I'm using Bristol board for this one and only have it in A3 size so not a lot of room for much other than the subject.
Here is where I'm at so far. Not getting much time to work on it of late so a few more days to go.

I hope you have a go at something hairy soon Matt! Looking forward to seeing how you handle it with your eye for meticulous detail.

Wow, I am a cat lover and this is beautiful! Looking forward to seeing the finished product!