Now that I’ve completed the
thumbnail composition and value sketches, and gotten feedback from the client,
I’m ready to work up the full size pencil drawing. There are still some compositional
questions for me when it comes to the final painting, though. I’m still not
sure how to present the bird in the nest. Do I want some chicks, also? I want
the background to be benign but I’m also thinking of some low, diffuse clouds,
rather than a solid uniform color. I want to see what the background might look
like with some light clouds before trying it with paint. I suggested a misty,
cloudy background in one of the value thumbnails and that composition
interested me. I also want to be sure
the values I worked out look good in the full size drawing. It looks more and
to me that I’m going to have to produce a full size pencil drawing with a lot
of detail. That will reduce surprises and uncertainties to a minimum. It’s a
lot more work but I feel more comfortable with it and well worth the extra
time.
I started
working up a full size composition, 28” X 19”, in pencil on tracing paper.
First, I blocked in the nest area in the bottom right, along with some foliage
that might be present in the upper parts of the trees. Rather than draw the
bird in flight directly on that same sheet, I blocked it in on a separate sheet
of tracing paper. Once I was sure of the size and shape I placed it under the
tracing and moved it around until I liked the position relative to the nest.
Then I retraced it onto the sheet with the nest. After that I added more detail
without any shading.
As I was
drawing the bird in flight I kept comparing its size to the nest to get the
relative sizes right. I found that I had to increase the size of the nest some,
so I kept adding on to it.
After
getting the bird in flight to a stage I was happy with, I decided to work on
the nest. There’s a great deal of detail in that nest – a great many twigs and
branches inter-twinned and woven into a massive and solidly built structure.
Rather than work all that out on the final good paper (and have to erase and
re-work) I worked it all out in the pencil drawing. I added shading as I filled
it all in to see how the lighting would play on the twigs. The light is coming
from the right side and is fairly low in the sky. That will make the right side
of the birds and nest (and twigs, etc) lighter. The cloudy background will
eliminate strong lighting but still allow lights and darks and shadows. I
wanted to see if my mind’s eye view of the scene would be equaled by my pencil
work.
Composition
1 shows a side view of the bird in the nest. In Composition 2 I tried a frontal
view of the bird. I then went to a back view in Composition 3. You’ll notice
the size of the nest also increases from Composition 1 to Composition 3 as I
decided it had to be larger. In the end I preferred the side view of the
nesting bird (Composition 1). I also decided to add two chicks to the nest.
They’re barely visible above the nest but can be seen on closer observation.
The final positions and poses can be seen in Composition 4. I felt that the
back view presented too large a bird in the nest. It began to compete for
interest. The frontal view just wasn’t all that interesting. I preferred the
side view where the bird was lower and not so imposing. Its shape pointed
toward the bird in the air – the center of interest. I pointed its head upward
also toward the bird in flight – and it looks that way, guiding the viewer’s
eyes in that direction. In Composition 4 we see the same side view but with
chicks added. They also look upward toward the bird in flight. You can see in
Composition 4 that the nest has been increased in width. It looks more like it
can accommodate all the birds.
Once I was
sure of the placement and sizes I started to work up the pencil drawing on
tracing paper. This is where I added all the detail and values. I just started
adding the detail to Composition 4. As I worked this drawing up I felt the
drawing was too large, that I was including much more than I need to on both
sides. The original drawing was 28” X 19”. I cut out a couple of frames from white
drawing paper to see how the picture would look in other sizes. I like the look
of the 20” X 16” because it seems more intimate, as it focuses on the subjects.
But I’m not 100% sold yet and will keep comparing the different proportions
until I am. Weigh in on the sizes if you wish. What size do you prefer – and
why?
Pencil
Composition 3 shows the drawing nearly finished. All the detail is complete for
the nest, the mama bird in the nest and most of the bird in flight. The
background sky is nearly complete also. I’m happy with the values and the
lights and darks of the clouds in the background seem to help tie the bird in
flight and the nest birds together. The lower left is still incomplete and I am
debating how much of that to include. There is a nice diagonal composition here
and I don’t want the lower left to destroy that. I may work up that corner on
an overlay to see what I think.
Next week
I’ll show the completed pencil drawing. Then it’s time to start painting!
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