it's my dodger binx! :)
done in colored pencil with H and 4B graphite pencils.
i've been working on this one for a long time.. it started out with just the graphite pencils.. i kind of wish i just left it that way. i think the colored pencil kind of screwed the picture but unfortunately, colored pencil doesn't erase >_<
gah. oh well.
~christine~
PS
reference pic: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/vampurity/STA61034.jpg
Comments
Kiwi Tang Says:
This is beautiful! I think it's great.
Chr Says:
This is a very nice piece; very serene. I'm very fond of the softness of the shading of the area about the ear and eye. The color in the eye looks lovely and makes the subject seems more alert and intelligent, as well as drawing the eye to the contrast between the eye and the surrounding shadows. I agree with you about the use of color; it seems this piece would be much stronger in black-and-white, though I tend to think that's just because black-and-white offers more natural contrast. As it is, the red overpowers and the green in the corner does more to break the picture plane than add unity and flow. Perhaps try shading the red with green to create more contrast as well as tie the green chunk into the rest of the image (excellent use of complimentary colors on the background, though). The cat seems a bit ghostish and doesn't really seem to fit with the vibrant colors of the background; perhaps if you increased the contrast by darkening the black markings and shading (while leaving the near-white highlights), that would add enough contrast to pull it into the picture instead of just having it sit atop the color. Excellent idea adding the red sheen to the fur; I'm not entirely sure if it would work, but maybe try adding a lighter pink in there as well, to add more subtle reflections and reinforce the interaction between fore- and background.
As for the cat itself; it's absolutely adorable. You're lucky to have such a gorgeous cat. I'm particularly fond of the shading about the eye (though, as I said, I do think it needs to be a bit crisper), as it is more realistic and you seemed to pay more attention to your references there. Looking at your "astronautic cats" photos, I can't really tell which one you used as reference, as this piece seems to be a mix of the last three photos. So just a quick warning: working from more than one photo, especially when the photos are very similar, can be much more deceptive than working from memory and can inhibit one's learning of anatomy (you think you're learning it right because you're using a photo, but you're really not, because angles of the photos do not flow together). As such, there are a few minor anatomy problems: the cat's left eye (on the right-most side of the picture) seems a bit too high, and either the upper lip is too long or the nose is too short. I'm not entirely sure how much of the cheek should be showing, as the muzzle and eye seem to disagree a bit on which angle we're viewing the cat, but I think one should be able to see at least the lens of the eye if that much cheek is exposed.
Overall, a very lovely piece of work! The wrinkles around the ear amuse me; they're such an adorable little detail.