"Baby Girl"

I've beat my deadline again, even with all the procrastination. I'm happy with this drawing, though I am questioning some of the folds in the hoodie. I think my grandfather will love it. I already have it matted and framed, I just need a gift bag.

"Baby Girl"

I finally thought of a title, it's pretty straight forward. It's just the nickname my grandfather has for her. Since it's for him I figure it's a appropriate. I'm having some trouble with the hood and I've rethought the composition. I think I may make it smaller, a 5" x 7" I think that size would work out better in the end. I think he'd have an easier time finding a place to put an 8" x 10" frame than a 11" x 14" frame.

I think I'm over thinking everything too much. I'm over thinking my website, and I think I'm just causing more harm than good. I'm over thinking this drawing, and I'm not enjoying it anymore. I'm over thinking future concepts and I'm not taking the time to just enjoy the simple ideas that I have for future works. I have some great photos of my niece that I'd like to draw, I'd also like to try to draw my daughter with bubbles (I have a lot of great photos of her blowing bubbles). I also have photography that I need to sort through that I forgot about in the middle of all the stress. I think I need to stop concentrating on shows and galleries and the size of my portfolio and just focus on my art. I need to just go with what comes my way and maybe one idea will lead to another and it will snowball into a great series. If not I should at least end up with great work that doesn't really relate to each other. I don't have to have a series to have a good portfolio of work.

Little progress

It's really not a huge amount of progress but it's something. I'm a bit distracted tonight. I still may come back to this tonight more than likely I'll just set it aside until tomorrow. I am feeling better about the chine, and I think I smoothed out the nose some. The cheek still has that dark post that is refusing to blend. I did start adding in the hood and hair, I'm pretty happy with those. Actually now that I'm looking at the bottom of the chin might need to be lighter or maybe when I darken the cheek it will look right. For now it looks a little awkward. I think I'll leave it and see how it looks when the cheek is done. I can always come back to it.

http://jessicamckelvin.com

More Progress

I'm not sure how I feel about the progress I made on this. I'm a little unsure of the chin and the lips. The lips don't look so bad from far away though. Those nose might need a bit more work, and I'm not done with the cheek. I have the dimensions mapped out now. I'll try to work again tomorrow, I may post updates depending on how much I get done or how late I'm up.

http://jessicamckelvin.com

Some progress

I got kind of stuck on the eye and the angle of the nose. I like how all the angles and proportions turned out, though the iris looks a bit odd. Of course it's close to what I have in the photo. I do think that maybe I should just add a little more to it in the drawing. Now I'm thinking the top maybe looks a little too low. I'm not sure, I've erased it so many times I'm loosing the tooth in that part of the paper. It's frustrating me right now. I kept thinking the eye looked too wide now I think it needs to be wider.

I've also added some updates to my website. I have prices on my available artwork and a price list for prints now.
http://jessicamckelvin.com

A little progress

I wasn't able to get much to time work over the past few days, I was just focused on other areas of my life. I am still hoping to get this done before June 12, we'll see how that goes. I pushed my self to get a little work done tonight. It's not much because I'm not really interested in being up late. I'm also having a little trouble focusing after today. I'm going to try and get a little more done tomorrow though. I am struggling a bit with the angles in the face this pose has come with it's own unforeseen challenges. Everything feels a bit off, I also think I didn't pay close enough attention when I was editing the photo and the contrasts are bit off in this photo. I think the shadow looks to dark. I'm tired though, so I need some sleep and to approach this whole thing with a clear head.

New Drawing

I haven't thought of a title yet. This will be a Father's Day/Birthday Gift for my grandfather. It's a portrait of my daughter, "Baby Girl" as he likes to call her. Soon after this drawing I will be working on a drawing or painting of him. I haven't decided yet. I do have plans for a portrait of him and my grandmother together for an anniversary gift. That may be a painting though. I have a few portraits I want to do lined up for next few pieces.
I only have an eye done but I really like the progress I've made. I choose to use pencil in this one because I wanted to focus on the small details, and I feel I can do that better with pencil. The reference photo I'm using has a soft contrast which I think compliments her face well. I also find the angle of the face interesting, so I'm looking forward to working on this more. This is going to be one of my smaller drawings, but high in detail. I haven't decided completely on the background yet. I may include the actually background from the photo, do a flat value or bring in a second reference.

"Beautiful Dreamer"

"Beautiful Dreamer" is complete and ahead of schedule. I beat my deadline by a month. I feel really good about that. Of course I don't feel this is perfect I never feel much of anything I do is perfect, but I'm done fussing with it. Some parts of it already a bit overworked. It's time to take what I've learned and move on to something new. Overall I'm happy and I like it.

More Updates

The lighting is causing a glare which lightens up some of the left side, but still it's good enough for an update. Aside from a few fixes as usual I'm really happy. I think about 1 or 2 days more and I'll be finished with drawing and moving on. I just need to fill in the background and work on those small fixes. This is also going to be the last update before I post the finished drawing.

Updates

I'm happy with the hands, well except for my pinkie. It looks a little awkward but I figure it will come together when I start shading things in. I think I may have flattened out the values in the chest a bit much. I think it needs more darks. I can almost hear Mr. G yelling "Get darker!" It will get there though I think I might lighten up some of the top part of the dress.I'm really happy with the work I did today, and I'm excited about working on it more. I'd be working more on it tonight but I have to get up early in the morning. Also I think maybe I should work on my thumb a bit more. The shape looks a bit off at least on the top. I'm also trying to spread out a bit more and work on the background as well. I laid in a bit of the pattern on the pillow. I think as long as I get the shading on my dress spot on I won't need the pattern. I should start sketching in some of that right side background tomorrow though.

More Progess: Beautiful Dreamer

Again the quality of the photo is sub par, but I've gotten some progress done. I laid in the second figure's hair. I may have to darken the shading a bit in her face and adjust the top of the hair line, other wise I think everything with her looks great. There's not enough done on the dress for me to feel one way or another about. I started laying in a bit more of the background, and I'm pretty happy with it so far. My biggest concern right now looking at the photo is hair on the second figure looks a bit detached. I'm starting to feel a bit better about the first figure's hand. I made the right on the first figure a bit larger because when I laid in the background it felt a bit awkward. Anyway I'm overall pretty happy with it, aside from the need of a few adjustments. I still feel that I'm ahead of schedule and I'm feeling really good about that.

Beautiful Dreamer: some progress

I did some work on my drawing. I spent quite a bit of time just trying to sketch out where the arms and hands should be. I also laid in some light lines for about where I want the other two borders. I've also decided to eliminate the two poles that would be in the background. They cover up part of the neat texture area of the wall, and are just a bit too light to be in the background. Because of the sculpture you really only see a little bit of them. The bothered me so now I just won't include them. I hadn't even sketched them in yet, I just stopped the top part of the wall where they would start so I just continued it. It was my easiest fix of the night. I don't have a photo of the progress, but the lighting is terrible and there's not too much to show. I darkened some of the shading in the second face, sketched in the ear and started some of the hair. I may actually finish this drawing ahead of schedule if I keep up on it. That would be great.

I may do a painting after this, but I'll have to see if AC Moore sells hardboard. If not I can always start on that next drawing. I do have a canvas panel and I could just do a quick self-portrait, before I start the drawing. I'm going to work in charcoal but it will be a larger size. It shouldn't take me too terribly long to complete it though. I tend to work faster in charcoal.

Beautiful Dreamer: some progress and changes

I've changed a little bit from my original plan. I took it down to one plain strap. I may lighten it but I think it will work when the whole dress is dark. Also I'm leaving out the pattern, I think it would just make everything too busy. I will try to add in some of the texture of the dress, but there are a lot of interesting folds that I think would be lost in the pattern. I think the second face is looking great. I think that line on the mouth might be a bit to dark but other than that I'm really happy with all the delicate detail. This photo doesn't show much of that, but my lighting is horrible and uneven. Also my hands were shaking a bit when I took the photo. Though the way this photo is cropped is close to the final composition. I struggled a bit with the second face, but aside from darkening some shading I think it doesn't need much work. I think I finally got the proportions and placement about right. I just need to fill in both bodies and the rest of the background.

Beautiful Dreamer: updates

It's not a lot of progress, again, but I like it. I'm feeling pretty good about the hair, though I'm a little uneasy about the shoulder. I think it's mostly the angle of the strap. In the end it probably won't matter. The shoulder could probably come in a little more, on the angle. The strap may look even more odd but the shoulder would look right. I'm not sure. I might come back to that later. There's a spot on the shadow of the chest I need to lighten, and I need to even out the shadow more, other than that I'm happy with the chest. I can work more into the arms tomorrow and the background on the left, I can also sketch in more of the second figure. The background on the right will probably be the last thing I do. I at least want to finish both figures before I start working on that intricate part of the sculpture.

Beautiful Dreamer: updates

First of all the border is not that crooked, I just took the photo at a weird angle and I didn't have the patience to fix it at the moment. I've spent a good bit of time agonizing over the two borders I have right now. Also I'm really hating that left side of the hair right now. I think it's just too high and maybe more of that sculpture should show. I moved the shoulder so I have to fix the hair around it. I like how the background is looking. I'm just full of frustration for the hair right now and that's why I'm dragging my feet. I'll spend some time later trying to fix that hair, either tonight or tomorrow.

Beautiful Dreamer: updates

I've gotten some work done tonight, I made some decent progress in the background. I think the width of the shoulders needs some double checking. Though I'm pretty sure they haven't moved since my last measurement. They still look too wide though, I'm not sure. I'm afraid now I'll have to bring it in a little because that would mean bringing the hair in as well. I really should recheck that. Other than that I'm happy with the work in the hair and background I have done. I'd be working more but I really need to break for food. I'll at least check those proportions before I go to bed. I'll update again soon, I'm starting to worry about my deadline so I shouldn't be going days at a time without working on this anymore.

Change of background

I've been thinking about the background quite a bit. I really don't like the simplified background with the just the flat value shading in place of the architecture. I'm including the architecture. So far aside from the huge pain of perspective and straight lines, I think it's for the best. I like how it's looking now, it gives more interest to the background. Right now I'm frustrated with the left shoulder, since I've finally figured out the right. I'm also frustrated with how the hair ends there. I think I'll work it out, though if it wasn't for the small hand at the bottom I probably would have cropped off part of the left side of the figure. I still have some problems with the width of the face and still may come back to change that later.
Anyway I'm going to work on this more today, I just need to take a break right now to eat.

Updates

I've gotten a small amount of work done. I mostly tried to fix some issues that I still have with the mouth and face in general. I'm getting a bit caught up right now in the hair and the background. I keep agonizing over some details that I should probably just leave lone. The hair on the left side of the face needs improvement because of the corrections I did on that side of the face. The background (flat value) is looking not so consistent. I've gotten some more sketching in, especially on the hair. I also did a little more work in the neck. I'm pretty happy overall with what I have done, despite the issues that I have with some of it. I do admit that I need to buckle down and get more work done in one sitting though. I've been distracted with other things. I'm still not too worried about my deadline and I feel like I'm right on track.

Angelic Updates

I've finally found time to get some more work done on "Angelic." I've even gotten some more work done since taking this photo. I was looking at the photo and realized that I needed to darken the chest and arm so it will match the face. I don't have anymore work done on the hair yet. I've erased the hand a few more times it is giving me a bit of a hassle. I'm just trying to find it's perfect position. Basically I'm now using the arm as guide because I'm happy with the placement of the other part of the arm and the chest. I'll let the arm lead into the hand and determine placement from there.
Also since "Angelic" is rather large and taking much longer than originally anticipated to finish, I plan to work on a few smaller drawing after this one. I do have a few portraits I want to do but I think I'll keep the scale down so I can get a more work into my galleries on my site.
http://jessicamckelvin.com

Angelic

I've gotten some more work done on "Angelic." I'm cramping up again and I'm hungry, so I stopped for the night. I laid in a bit more of the hair and got a little more of the hair done. I spent some time starting to agonize over the hand. I might have to do some sketches soon. If I work tomorrow, maybe I'll feel that I have enough done to post up new photos. What I do have done is faint and subtle, so I'm afraid it looks mostly like it did before. I'd like to at least have the arm figured out before I post a new photo. I also have some sketch lines and smudges to clean up.