- Nigerian Goat Kid
Just 3 days old! - Ronin 9 - Final
Finished! Minor changes from the last version. There's a little bit more drawing on either side with this scan. I had been scanning with it flat on the scanner, but there's a lip that was cutting off a little from each side. This time I scanned in 2 parts so I could get every last bit of the drawing. "K9 Ronin", 9" x 12" scratchboard, colored with ink. - Off Duty? - Final
Finished! 5" x 7" scratchboard (Ampersand Scratchbord), with watercolor and some India ink for re-inking & drawing long, black hairs. From my own reference photo taken at a dog play day many years ago. - Off Duty? 5
Almost finished ... Since the last scan, I scratched to bring back highlights on his fur, added a lighter edge on the tennis ball and the highlights in his eyes, and worked on the white parts of his fur a little bit. And miracle of miracles, I used the "Auto Color" adjustment in Photoshop and it did a pretty awesome job of fixing the scan. I usually can't rely on that setting, but I'm sure happy it worked this time! - Off Duty? 4
With color (watercolor). I didn't spend a ton of time on color-correcting this scan. The dog looks pretty accurate, but the water isn't quite right. I'll take more time when I scan the final. At any rate, in the home stretch at this point. Next:scratching to add highlights on the dog, and separate him from the background. - Off Duty? 3
Border Collie is all scratched, ready for color! That will help pop him out from the background. He won't have spooky eyes either. After adding color, I'll scratch as needed. - Off Duty? 2
Still working on scratching the dog, but I've started adding a water background. Read the story about the water here: When You Want Different Water - Off Duty? 1
5" x 7" scratchboard of a Border Collie: "Off Duty?" because anyone who knows Border Collies knows they're working even when they're playing. - Chrome Rising - Reference Photo 1
Here's the original reference photo. You can see the hood was white, but without a dark background, the contrast situation wasn't distracting. - Chrome Rising - Reference Photo 2
To give me a better idea of how to re-work the hood, I took that section of the reference and made it darker. That brought up some details that I could incorporate. - Chrome Rising - Final
"Chrome Rising" - 6" x 6" scratchboard. 1941 Cadillac hood ornament, from my own reference photo.
Scratched with a #16 X-acto & an eyebrow tattoo needle (on the hood of the car), re-inked (stippling) with a technical pen.
I was mostly happy with the previous version of this drawing, but the contrast between the hood & the background in the corner bothered me. It pulled the eye right off the edge. I re-worked the hood to make it darker and now it reads better. I stippled with a technical pen to make the entire hood darker, and then scratched to blend & add highlights.
Part of the reason I didn't anticipate the issue in the corner is that I usually erase the backgrounds in Photoshop to save printer ink and avoid distraction from the subject. This a case where that worked against me, because in the photo, the background was white, so I wasn't seeing that contrast between the hood & the solid black background until I was finished. See the next 2 images - my reference photos... - Chrome Rising 4
I thought the drawing was finished at this point, but the contrast between the hood and the background was bothering me! See the next image for further discussion. - Chrome Rising 4 - Detail
Detail of stage 4 - Chrome Rising - detail of process on hood
Close up of the eyebrow tattoo needle. It has multiple sharp pins that create a linear scratch pattern. - Chrome Rising - detail of process on hood
The section on the bottom left shows how it looks after I've scratched w/the #16 X-acto blade.