วีดีโอ

@LyntonBolton Thanks Lynton hope all is well with you.

@@HerHobby Thank you so much

@@ValeriaGalindo Thank you for taking the time to watch and comment.

Thank you. I think I am about 4 months in at the moment with a lot more to do.

That's so nice to hear thank you. I think the picture has taken about 4 months to get to this point but a lot more still to be done.

@@JamieBoots May I ask a question? I hope it isn't being impertinent. Is this your full-time work? I ask because I have been doing art for a living for over 30 years and I find it difficult to have time to do personal art sometimes. I realize that these beautiful drawings are mostly commissions, but I was wondering if this was your main living. I am so slow creating my detailed artwork that I am not able to do that for income. Your work is amazing.

@SheilaLandry I have been full time for about twenty years but it is a hard business as pictures take so long to do. I do run classes as this provides more stability as we'll as prints of my and have an agent/publisher who deals with that side of the business. Sadly in the UK this market is not good at the moment and most exhibitions have disappeared over the past few years. I fo feel privileged to be able to make a living from what I enjoy. Thak you so much for your kind words about my work it is appreciated.

@@JamieBoots I just now realized that you were on Skillshare. I joined up there last month. It is pretty ambitious of me to think I will be able to do lots of classes there - Boy! There are a LOT! - but there were a few of the artists I follow that use that platform and I want to support them. I will enjoy going through your classes there and I hope over the year to maybe be able to try one instead of just watching (although I learn a lot from you watching, too!) Thank you again. :)

@@SheilaLandry I think I have four classes on Skillshare at the moment and am just about to start work on another one. There are lots of artists and lots of different techniques to learn and everyone is willing to give advice.

Thank you so much and glad you like the picture

@sandraprosper5523 Thank you that is so nice to hear

@@shaaronhole3111 thank you so much

@maryhull448 Hi Liz Yes we are both well thanks hope you are too.

@@andyrno1 That's great to hear thank you

Hi Sandi we are both fine hope you are to. Just got back from trying to photograph hares but no luck so try again tomorrow.

Thank so much you that's great to hear.

Thank you so much.

The one I used had a milling/grinding blade so I used that. If you are just making it for your self I would say the pepper corn grinder is a better option as you can just grind out what you want at a time. The blender was a bit of an experiment and I was surprised that it worked and obviously it can't be used as a food blender again. Also the cup has to be quite thick because you do have chunks of graphite banging around inside it so not something that I would recommend, the pepper corn grinder is a much better option and they are very inexpensive. Hope this helps and thanks for watching.

Thank you so much. I used a makeup sponge to apply 3B graphite powder as a base tone and then used a 9B graphite block over the top to finish,.

@@JamieBoots Much appreciated. many thanks

I would say that I have found makes such as Staedtler, Faber Castell and CANAN d'ACHE have all been good to use. You certainly don't need the full rang for example the CARAN d'ACHE pencils that I use have 15 in the set but I probably only use about six of them covering darkest to lightest. Thank you so much for taking the time to watch and comment.

@@JamieBoots Well thank you for taking the time to reply! Looking into steadler and graft wood pencils currently!

The Kneadable eraser that I am using is made by CARAN d'ACHE but the one I would recommend is a FAKTI K20 This is absolutely identical to the CATAN d'ACHE but is easier to find and half the price , both are quite firm and hold shape well. Another option is the Faber Castle Kneadable but it is softer so does not hold shape as well as the other two. Hope this was of help and thanks for watching.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for the quotation. Yes you can but it does take time to make the powder. It won't give a pure black background but will give a good base to build your darkest tone onto. I do have a video on how to make graphite powder but you need a graphite block and a pepper corn grinder. It is important that it is a pepper corn and not a regular pepper grinder as it has to be a bit corser for grinding the powder. Make sure not to use it to grind pepper after using it for graphite. Hope this is of help.

I would start with a blending stump to build some shape. With that done I would then use 2 and 4B pencils to build tone in layers. The pencils can be applied lightly as this will allow the gran of the paper to show through giving the appearance of texture. Highlights can then be added with a kneedable eraser and 9B pencil applied for the darkest areas. Thanks for the question and hope this was of help.

Thank you so much that's great to hear.

Thanks for the comment. The tool is a dart it just has the tip blunted so as not to cut the paper.

Thank you for taking the time to watch and comment.

Thanks for the comment and yes they are the worst pencils I have ever used.

Thank you for watching.

So glad you liked the video and it was of help.

Thank you for the comment and yes the quality is very poor.

Thank you so much for tacking the time to watch and comment.

Thanks for the quedtion the paper is Arches Aqerrelle 356 gram Hot press.

The paper is an A0 sheet of Arches

Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to comment. Muchas gracias

Thank you and yes I am using some reference but there is a fair degree of artistic license. Look forward to seeing you at the class.

Thank you so much and yes I remember you saying about the foil; I'm really pleased that it works. It sounds like it works just as well as the glassine paper. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment.

Thank you so much for watching and I'm so glad the video was helpful. Using the scrap paper this way prevents excessive dust being applied to the drawing, works well with graphite and I would think that it would work just as well with charcoal.

Thanks mate

Thank you and I will definitely do more on this picture as it progresses.

Thank you so much and its great to know the videos are helpful.

Thank you so much that's great to hear.

Thank you so much that's great to hear.

Thank you so much that's so nice to hear.🙂

I use the CARAN d'ACHE Grafwood range of pencils. The grades of pencil used on this picture where 4H,H,F,,2B, 4B and 9B. Thanks for watching.

Thank you that is so nice to hear and thank you for watching.

The type of stoke will vary depending on the area that I am working on for example shorter coarser fur requires a short coarse stroke as opposed to longer fur which is a more long and tangled one. After the texture has been indented into the paper a blunt pencil can be used to lightly brush tone over the top to reveal the underlying texture. The area around the whiskers that I was working on is a shorter stroke but as I moved away to the surrounding area this required a slightly longer one. I hope this helps and thanks for watching.

Personally I prefer the electric as I feel it removes more tone, but the Tombo is a good tool as well. In the video I used them both to clean out the whiskers on the face. For the fur texture on the cat I used a dart that has been blunted on the end to indent texture into the paper. This is used to first indent very fine texture into the paper and when a blunt pencil is used over the top it reveals the texture. This is very effective but does take a long time and you do need a tough paper. This wants to be a hot press watercolour paper and around 300 gram, the one I would recommend is St Cuthbers Saunders Waterford as this indents well and is relatively tough and also takes dark tone very well. Hope this is of help and thanks for watching.

@@JamieBoots thank you so much for this much detailing. You are an awesome artist and a super awesome human being.

What a great comment thank you so much.

Sound like its one to avoid, thanks for letting use know and for watching.

Thank you so much for tacking the time to watch and comment.

Thank you for such a great comment.