Art Commission - Couple

This is a commission I did for someone I bumped into on the A19 outside Morpeth, and I do mean literally bumped into, (I kind of bumped my car into the back of his and after exchange details etc), he rang me up out of the blue and asked for this commission as he recalled I was an artist of sorts from my card. Doesn't life meander in weird ways!

Still using the reference photo he provided me with, I sketched his parents (he wanted a Christmas prezzie) on A3 cartridge paper , and had to use my vast collection of Derwent graphic pencils (well 4H, 2H, H, HB, B 2B and 4B to be precise). The hardest areas of this sketch was the man's silver hair and the woman's floral patterned top, the latter, which I feel compliments her sketch.

Art Commission 4 of 4 - Skip the Dog

At last, the final piece of my commissioned dog quartet, this is Skip, sadly no longer with us, his owner and my mate marmite (almost rhythms).

This one was somewhat difficult in that I wasn't able to take reference photos like I normally do, and was limited to only one photo. Still I feel I have captured his likeness and this I achieved by using only about four pencils (4H, 2H, HB and 4B - which gives me a great range of tones and shades) on A4 cartridge paper.

I then use this image together with the preceeding three others to compile a "quartet" of the four dogs, and had them printed all together on a white boxed canvas (26" x26") which now hangs proudly in marmite's tea rooms in Stannington (Stannington Nurseries, Station road, Stannington - there you are Marmite a free plug).

Shoot The Cat

Art Commission 3 of 4 - Old Belle

OK, here is third sketch of a series of four, a commission I received from my mate Marmite. This sketch is of the oldest of his three dogs, she's called Belle. Her face around her eyes is very speckled and took hours of shading before I was happy that I had captured her unique demeanour, she looks to be the old mother figure for the other two I sketched before her.

The sketch was done on A4 cartridge paper and again I ended up using my favourite few pencils (4H, HB, 2B and 4B) these four pencils, especially on this sketch, I find give me a great range of contrast between the light and dark areas. I enjoyed shading in the detail in the eyes reflections and on the original sketch, I got so immersed in the reflection detail, I sketched the silhouette of myself taking the photo of Belle with my camera!

Once finished, I scanned the sketch into Photoshop, played around with the tones, before printing to A4 canvas cloth.

Art Commission 2 of 4 - Charlie the Jack Russell

Here is the second commission I've just completed of a Jack Russell (called Charlie). Which I have been commissioned to do for my mate Marmite. I think that the photo I decided to use as a reference, definitely show's his inquisitive nature, and has that cheeky look in his eyes.

The finished sketch was done on A4 cartridge paper. For this sketch, I ended up using only about four pencils (H4, HB, 2B and 4B). I then scanned the finished sketch into Photoshop and played around with the tone levels before I printed the final image onto A4 size 300 gsm cotton canvas, to enhance the pencil work I put into a sketch.

Art Commission 1 of 4 - Mac the Dog

Here is a pencil sketch I've just completed of a dog (called Mac). This is one of four I've been commissioned to do for my mate Marmite (you either love him or hate him).

I used a Canon EO5 Digital SLR to take the initial shots I'd need for the sketch. The finished sketch was done on A4 cartridge paper.

I used a Derwent Graphic Designer pencil set which has a good pencil range. This time This sketch, I used mainly pencils 4H, HB and 2B. I then scanned the finished sketch into Photoshop and played around with the tone levels before I printed the final image onto A4 size 300 gsm cotton canvas, to enhance the pencil work I put into a sketch.

Art Commission - Foal Sketch (Roxy)

Here is a pencil sketch I've just completed of a foal (called Roxy) When I was out in the field with her owner to take my initial shots, she just kept running away to her mum, but my patience paid off, after kneeling down with my camera, she felt relaxed enough to be curious and came up closer and I was able to get the shots I wanted. I decided on her right side as the coat pattern on this side looked best. I am using a Canon EO5 Digital SLR.

The finished sketch was done on A4 cartridge paper. I used a Derwent Graphic Designer pencil set which has the pencil range I needed (4H - 3H -2H - H - F - 2B to 6B) This time I found that for this sketch, I used mainly pencils 4H, 2H, HB and 2B. I then scanned the finished sketch into Photoshop. As it was an overcast (and very windy) day I had to tweak the brightness and contrast of the chosen photo in Photoshop to bring out the facial muscles and tones in the dark section of the coat.and played around with the tone levels before I printed the final image on A4 size 300 gsm cotton canvas. This really enhances the pencil work I put into a sketch, in fact I believe this final result looks better than the original A4 sketch.

Art Commission - Albert and Babs

Here is a pencil sketch I've just completed of a couple (Albert and Babs). The sketch was done on A4 cartridge paper. I used a Derwent Graphic Designer pencil set (from WH Smith - currently my favourite pencils) which had the pencil range I needed (4H - 3H -2H - H - F - 2B to 6B) I found that for this sketch I used mainly 4H, 2H, F, HB, 2B and 4B. I then scanned the finished sketch into Photoshop and played around with the tone levels and printed the final image on A4 size 300 gsm cotton canvas. I feel thaafter scanning the original sketch and printing it out onto A4 canvas really enhances the pencil work, in fact it looks better than the original sketch. Completion time was about six hours.

Art Commission - Girl and her Dog

This is a sketch of May and her pet dog "Ralph" sketched from a photograph onto canvas and then scanned into Photoshop and printed on A4 Cotton Canvas (I just love the finished effect you get printing on canvas). I also have to add that this shaggy dog was probably one of the hardest pets I've ever drawn, but my patience paid off.

I used the Derwent Graphic Designer pencil set that I used for the Horse sketch (April - see previous post) this time I tried sketching straight onto canvas instead of onto cartridge paper (my favourite medium) this, I feel gave me a fantastic texture to work with for this particular subject (soft focus photo and shaggy dog).

Art Commission - Horse Sketch (April)

Here is a pencil sketch I've just completed of a horse (called April). The sketch was done on A3 cartridge paper (A3 spiral bound sketch pad available WH Smith). I used a Derwent Graphic Designer pencil set (also from WH Smith) which had the pencil range I needed (4H - 3H -2H - H - F - 2B to 6B) I found that for this sketch I used mainly 4H, 2H, F, HB, 2B and 4B. I then scanned the finished sketch into Photoshop and played around with the tone levels and printed the final image on A4 size 300 gsm cotton canvas. I've found out that scanning the original sketch and printing it out onto A4 canvas really enhances the pencil work, in fact it looks better than the original A3 sketch.

Art Commission Caricature - Maria Sullivan

This is a caricature of a dear friend Maria Sullivan (and one time neighbour when I lived in North Harrow) This was to be a 50th birthday surprise for Maria (though how it was a surprise, is beyond me as I had drawn both her sons, her daughter and grandad in the past!) as their hallway currently houses a collection of most of my early black and white cartoons. Probably the first gallery of my artwork, ever.

I received the initial request as a very rough PDF draft sketched by Maria's husband, Mark, although no great artist, it did show me all the main components he wanted in the finished artwork.

It was now my job to take this rough and draft out something I would be happy with in a final composition. So after a few attempts, I final settled on this draft, which seems to incorporate all the components John wanted.

Once I have finished the rough sketch, I then have to scan it into Adobe Photoshop, as the rough was A3 size and my Epson DX 4050 scanner is slighter more than A4 (I really need to get a bigger scanner) I have to scan two seperate sections (top and bottom) and knit the two halves together (fiddly, but do-able in Photoshop).

Once inside Photoshop and I placed this as the underlying background image with the opacity set to about 50%, I then created a new layer for each component in the caricature - the background, the main figure, skin, clothing, juggled objects and clothing (this makes it easier to concentrate on different areas of the artwork).

I manage to create the thick outline (well it is a caricature and I think that thick black outlines make it jump of the page) by using the drop shadow blendind properties in Photoshop and slightly off-setting it, and repeating the effect for the figure and juggled objects. I also copied the drop shadow effect for the main text title.

I was extremely happy with the overall finish and most important, the Sullivans loved it and it now hangs pride in place in my personal gallery in their hallway!

Husky art (sketched whilst travelling on a train)

I sketched two of my Siberian Huskies whilst travelling on a National Express train between London and Newcastle (which I do twice every week), not both on the same trip mind you, each sketch was begun and finished on two seperate journeys. I hope to add a third on my next train journey tommorrow (London to Newcastle) For the first (Szary) I used a set of Faber Castell Shades of grey felt pens I bought from WH Smith. These pens have nice pointed ends and come in 6 shades of grey to black (hence the name), plus I love the wet paintbrush touch they have on the cartridge paper.

For the second sketch (Kira) I used a combination of the felt pens together with a few pencils, 2B, 4B, HB and 4H. I just felt that I could achieve a better contrast for this sketch using a combination of both and and I believe I did (always one for experimentation!) These are basically preliminary sketches/tryouts that I'm hoping to paint in Acrylics later on.














The third and final sketch in this series of train art, is of Tazz, again I stuck to using pencils only (2B, 4B, 4H etc) I wanted to show Tazz's eyes as they used to be when he was younger, now he has changed from a striking light blue to dark brown (this sometimes happens to Huskies as they get older).

Of the three sketches, I think I prefer the strong contrast of the light and dark on the sketch of Kira, maybe I'll try this in colour next time (although they all are basically coloured black, grey, tan/brown and white).