Artistic Realism Art Studio

Coffee and Table Napkin - Stage 2

Here, I covered the subjects with layers of graphite powder. The marks which are highlights and the reflection of the table napkin on the steel cup received only one or two layers of graphite powder.

With a smaller brush, the cup was darkened carefully preserving the highlights and reflections. They will be rendered when I am satisfied with the cup’s overall darkness.

David

• Website: Artistic Realism Drawings
• View other stages: Coffee and Table Napkin Stages

Portrait of Baby Mary Rose - Stage 3

Just a bit of progress in this stage. A little more was done on the eye and I started working on the ear and eyebrow. This stage also shows the initial pencil strokes for the hair.

In addition, I worked some more on the background (smoothening it out and making the tones even) and darkened what she’s sitting on. I am actually planning it to be a furry sort of fabric like that of a teddy bear’s. I am not really sure what the correct term for that kind of fabric is but I researched and, I think, it’s properly known as “plush”. Anyway, please let me know if it’s wrong .

Faith

• Website: Artistic Realism Drawings
• View other stages: Portrait of Baby Mary Rose Stages

Coffee and Table Napkin - Stage 1
Medium: Graphite Pencil
Paper: Canson Grain
Size: 25 × 20 cm (10″ × 8″)

I hope you don’t mind the slow pace with which I update the blog. I have been finishing the Portrait of Ankong these past few weeks. I’ll post it here soon.

The steel coffee pot in “Afternoon Break” gave me an idea for the next work called “Coffee and Table Napkin”. I like the effect of the steel attained on the pot. The dark tones looked kind of metallic.

This is the third and last work that I will be doing for the 5-piece “Coffee” still life drawing series. Faith will be the doing the remaining two.

“Coffee and Table Napkin” has as its subjects, a steel cup with black coffee and a table napkin laid across at its base. I plan to leave most of the background and foreground white so as to make the subjects appear to be popping out of the paper.

I will be using mostly brushes and for hard to reach areas and details, graphite pencils.

From the Art Studio,

David

• Website: Artistic Realism Drawings
• View other stages: Coffee and Table Napkin Stages

Portrait of Baby Mary Rose - Stage 2

Here’s stage 2. Initial layers of graphite pencil have been applied to most of the drawing. I have also done quite a bit of her right eye in this stage but it isn’t finished yet. I included a close-up to show a larger view of the face.

In this drawing, I am trying out a new method for the skin tones which is quite different from what I normally use — it will be done using mostly graphite powder.

I used to do the skin tones with an “underpainting” of graphite powder and then layers of more graphite using mechanical pencils. In this portrait, I am trying to use the graphite powder as much as possible and restrict the mechanical pencils to the “finalizing stage” (filling out missed spots and adding sharp edges).

My application of graphite powder is the same as charcoal — brushing on light layers until I get the desired darkness and texture. This new method will, I hope, speed up the time I spend on my graphite pencil portraits while still retaining a detailed finish . Hopefully, it will also give my drawings a softer look.

Please stay tuned for the next stage !

From the Art Studio,

Faith

• Website: Artistic Realism Drawings
• View other stages: Portrait of Baby Mary Rose Stages

Portrait of Baby Mary Rose - Stage 1
Medium: Graphite Pencil
Paper: Canson Grain
Size: 36 × 43 cm (14″ × 17″)

Hi everyone,

I haven’t been able to post anything for a long while now. I spent a good part of that time working on portraits which I can’t post right now as I haven’t asked permission from the subjects yet.

Anyhow, here’s a portrait that I am currently working on. This is stage 1 — the outline stage. Some of the reasons why this portrait is especially interesting to do for me are:

1. It is a baby’s portrait (they’re so adorable to look at )
2. This is the first time I will be doing a “serious” full-figure drawing
3. There are new subjects and textures for me to draw like shoes and lettering on her clothes

I am currently about a third finished with this drawing, but since I managed to scan it in between drawing sessions, I will post these earlier stages first.

By the way, this and all future image close-ups will be a bit bigger than what we usually post them. I decided to increase the size because I very much enjoy viewing other artists’ works up close to see and examine all the details that they’ve put in. I guess it’s a good substitute if I can’t view their works in person . Anyway, let me know if you would rather have the smaller close-ups and I’ll change them back to the original sizes.

Faith

• Website: Artistic Realism Drawings
• View other stages: Portrait of Baby Mary Rose Stages

Title: Afternoon Break
Medium: Graphite Pencil
Paper: Canson Grain
Size: 25 × 20 cm (10″ × 8″)

We finally had a chance to update the blog so here’s the finished drawing.

The wall was mostly done using a paint brush dipped in graphite powder and a shop towel. The darkest parts were rendered with an 8B wooden pencil. I also used the same brush on the frames and jamb of the French door and the underpainting of the bushes. To create the leaves of the bushes, I used the 8B pencil. I hope you like it. Please let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

This is number two in the series of five drawings entitled “Coffee”. The first one is on our website and it is called “Coffee, Anyone?”

From the Art Studio,

David

It has been a long time since I last updated “Afternoon Break”. So to make up for lost time, here are two stages of the drawing:

I continued working on the folds of the tablecloth. In the latter stage, one leg of the table is finished.

I am almost done with Afternoon Break, so these will be the final scans before I post the completed drawing.

From the Art Studio,

David