Serious talent

Amazing talent

Where's the other two thirds?

A beautiful styled portrait !

I love seeing how other artists work and what they use for tools.

The different grade graphite pencils , the white blending stick, the paint brush to blend soft light tones . Holding the pencil sideways for base light tones, sharpened for the clear lines and details .

A curious difference in how I begin a project, than what many others do. This artist, as most artists do, always begin with the eyes. Then fill in the rest.

I have always done the eyes at very last. It's a mental tradition for me, that the eyes are the window to the soul. The life is put into the image when the eyes are done. A finishing crowning glory to a living subject. A technical reason I have for this, is that getting the eye detail , shading, contrasts, for me is better seen in how to execute each step when the rest of the image is done around it. Sometimes eye detail can look off to me just by themselves ...the shading and texture around them helps to gauge the pressure in the eye detail.

Also, by the time the rest is done, my muscle memory in being in the zone of the project is well honed to tackle such intimacy as the windows to the soul.

I usually begin from the left and work to the right , with the protective sheet paper under my hand, as this artist does, as they all do to prevent smearing.

Other than where to begin, I create images much as this artist does , and many others do , with similar techniques and tools.

I have concentrated on feet , especially....as a decent amount of images hide foot details . The intricacy of the rotating bones and sinews of foot and wrist or ankle structure is brilliantly made and suited for life traversing all terrains.

They are often difficult to get right , especially in action. Not a few artists often hide them , in grass, snow, sand,water. I want to highlight them. Especially in action...how they grip the ground or move in take off leaps or turns.

To study feet, paws, hooves, and their connecting bone to muscle structure is simply fascinating.

As all you trappers surely have admired as you so skillfully undress a hide in skinning.

Of all the animal legs and feet I have done, the human hand is simply the universe's math in perfect, brilliant energy. And all hands are different , bone structure different.

I loved admiring this artist creating such delicate and flowing motion of the hand and fingers.

In doing the wuff study for Fur-Fish-Game , to accommodate our own Tman Tribe Jack's article in biology , it was my privilege and pleasure to work with Jack in getting my wuff done as accurate as possible . To work with this man's writing and his depth of knowledge , less than my best for him, and my editor, was simply unthinkable. When he expressed liking the feet, my world was happy at a job done to needed acceptance.

Humans are in a realm of their own to draw , and I sweat bullets when I draw them. But the reward of work well done is worth it.

Thank you , Finster, for sharing this lovely video , so all the Tribe here can enjoy how a portrait is created.

Loved the video Finster, thanks. What I want to see is a similar video of Sharon doing a fox, a wolverine, a coyote, or a wolf. I can only imagine...

And yes, I've seen countless really fine works of wildlife art, where the artist hides the feet in the grass or under the snow. On the other hand, Sharon's critters' feet are generally prominently displayed, making her artwork miles ahead of other artists IMHO.

Jack

Crazy talent there now considering I can't draw a straight line with a ruler ha ha !

I've not seen an artist work in modules like this before. Always seen them begin with an outline of sorts in order to establish natural spacing and alignment then work in a given direction. Pretty cool to see how he works. Talented isn't a strong enough word! I consider this to be "art" much of what "modern art" is I do not.

I agree with you, Rye. I mirror everything you've said.

Rye, artists do have an outline to guide them. So does this artist.

What all of them do, myself included, is hammer out our images on cheap paper first. Spend time, even hours getting it refined as wanted, erasing , redoing, until it is ready.

Then, I use a light table , put the hammered out image down, tape it, and then the nice paper on top. That makes the tracing of the proof image . The lines are so light , depending on the person, you can hardly see them , especially in videos, unless they are traced with heavier pressure.

For example , I have a big wolverine in full colour on fine colored paper, not white, that I am working on. It took me a few days to get the image proof as I wanted it, with appreciated help from three guys on here who know wolverine anatomy inside and out, literally. As well as reference photos off the internet and videos. All artists use photos too, and bend their images to make their own unique image from bits and pieces of photos. The only animal I can draw in multiple angles from memory alone is the horse. Even then, I still like references .

This artist has the outline to trace onto nice paper, it is just hard to see. Video makes it near impossible, unless their tracing is heavy handed.

Allan, don't feel bad....I can't draw a straight line either without a ruler !

Thank you for the explanation Sharon! I was amazed how he went from one eye to the next with zero measurement!

Rye, yes that would be amazing .

There are artists who whoosh out art freehand , on walls, murals, even the ground, and paper, but those are more loose styles...with room for not perfect stylized impressions.

The real tight anatomical art, as I like to do, needs much more controlled preparation. Even in airbrushing on trucks, vans bike tanks, an outline special pencil and a grid is used.

Wow! What an interesting post. Pretty amazing to see such talent, Sharon included.

T7, I always love to see what fellow artists are doing. It doesn't matter if they are just beginning , young or old. All good.

I am a member of several groups of artists in social media , and I see all kinds of great stuff from everyone. Groups who specialize on "flat things", paper, etc., and several groups who specialize in sculpting and painting resin and plastic model horses . Yes like the old Breyer horses seen in hardware stores growing up. Except these are tremendous in detail and look real when they are painted. I've always wanted to paint those models and now I am. There is a market for them , as other models like cars, action movie figures, etc. Collectors items too.

Jack, I have been thinking of doing a video of something, in fast time, as the one Finster shows. Been wanting to do a close up on good colored paper of a wolverine face....a dynamic portrait in detail. Just to enjoy the process and share it with my art groups . Some of them do the same. I will let you know if/when I do