"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.

"Angel on my Shoulder"

I finally finished it. I decided to just leave the background black. I think anything else added in would just be too much. I like the simplicity, and the negative space. I can see plenty of improvements that could be made, but I just need to stop working on it. I'm going to start a painting soon, I'll have updates about that soon. I'll update my site with this drawing tomorrow it's getting late right now and I need some sleep.

There is a story behind the concept of this piece and I had wanted to wait until I had finished it to tell it. My grandmother was very important to me, she was like a mom for me. Years ago she was about to go in for lung reduction surgery and she was a bit worried about complications that might arise during the surgery. Honestly, so was I. I remember, quite vividly being in her kitchen talking to her about it. She was trying to prepare me for the worst. She told me that if anything happened to her, she would still look out for me. She would be an angel on my shoulder. That memory is so vivid I can still feel her hand taping on my shoulder. She made it through that lung reduction surgery, and got a little better for awhile. I lost her my senior year in high school. I've had some pretty big moments since then that I've really wanted to have her there for, moments that I had talked with her about. Through those moments I've remembered what she told me about her being the angel on my shoulder, and I've felt that she's been there for it all. Since my wedding I have been trying to think of way to visually express that moment and how I've been feeling about it. Thinking about her being there for me has really helped me out. I wanted to capture the happiness that thought brings me, in this piece. That sudden feeling of her hand on my shoulder that makes me feel not so alone.
She gave me so much, and she was always there for and will always continue to be. Just now she's there for me as that angel on my shoulder.

"Angel on my Shoulder" Updates

I think I've finished the right arm though I may need a little tweaking and I may need to go back into the shirt a little too. I did turn this photo black and white, which I probably shouldn't have done because it just doesn't look as true to life. I started layering in a bit more of the background. I have some light lines laid in to define the arm so if I decide to go for a more gray background I can go back over it with some white and lighten it up. I just want to see the black first and go from there.

"Angel on my Shoulder": updates

I actually got more done than I was expecting to. Though I need to go back in and round out the one part of the chest a bit. I struggled with the folds in under the chest in the shirt but I think they actually turned out right. I'm happy with where the arm is going. Though the line that shows up makes the arm look too big, it's just an old line there is a lighter line next to it that has the arm thinner. I started filling in the background a little. I've decided that I'll at least lay in a base of black and then maybe come back over it and sketch in something lightly with white pencil.
Also I took the photo and cropped to the size of the paper this time to give a better idea the actual composition. Though I may crop in more on the left. I'm not sure I may leave it as is.

"Angel on my Shoulder" little more progress

I didn't get much done because it is horribly hot right now. I'll try to work more on it tomorrow. I also have to remember to finish the hair. I almost forgot about the right side. I'm still unsure about the angle of the shirt and some of the shading on the chest, but the neck line is rather close to the reference. Though I do think I could bring it down a little on the left. Also I want to go back in and revisit the lips I think the bottom lip looks a little too outlined.

"Angel on my Shoulder" no photos just been thinking

I've been posting my progress on WetCanvas, I've gotten a lot of feedback and one person just make a comment about hand on the glasses. He says it doesn't look like it's touching. It was a very light touch and I really didn't think it was that important. So now I started comparing the two photos, photo of the progress and reference photo. The hand's shadow is actually a good bit off, but without direct comparison it looks fine. I'm not sure if I should go back and try to fix that. Also the arm is more straight down in my drawing and it's more at an angle in the reference photo. That I think I may fix. The arm has been bothering me a lot but I couldn't quite pin point what it was. I think that angle is what is off to me. I'll work on fixing it tonight. From what I can see it won't change much of the shadowing just move over the edge lines. I think that arm being at the correct angle will be better for when I start work on the rest of the shirt.

"Angel on my Shoulder" updates

I'm still unsure of the texture in the arm, thought it is better. I'm also now unsure of the texture of the chest, it's also looking really uneven to me. Looking at the photo I just took I need to re-examine that neckline in the shirt too. The neck needs more work as well though it's looking better I think. I'm pretty happy with my progress though I would have done more tonight if it wasn't for the heat and my knee starting to hurt.

"Angel on my Shoulder": updates

I've filled in the arm though I'm not completely happy with it. I don't like the texture that I have right now, it doesn't have the same smoothness as the rest of the drawing. I also think I need to re-examine that bottom lip. I'm pretty happy with the hair I just laid in and the start I have on the neck though I'm thinking the width is still looking a bit off. Maybe the next should be thinner... I'm not sure. I'll have to work on everything tomorrow. I'd like to fix all those problems and get down into the chest tomorrow. I could be tackling the background by next week at this rate.

"Angel on my Shoulder": some updates

Again it's not much, and what I did get done needs some work, especially those teeth and that chin. I think both need to be darker. At least I have the head filled in, except for that right side of the hair. I'm still not sure what to do with the background. I'm going to check look one more place for those masks and see if I can find them. I'm not sure what I would use them for if I found them anyway.

I also created an Etsy shop today: http://jessicamckelvin.etsy.com
I have a few pieces listed for sale right now, if this goes well I'll list more later.

"Angel on my Shoulder" little more progress

The color on the photo is very off because of I still had the lamp on when I took the photo, and I just couldn't seem to correct the color in photo shop. I'm still thinking the nose looks a little crooked, and I tried to fix that one part of the hand I was unhappy with. I need to revisit the hand again that one shadow is just too dark it and it bothers me. I'll try to fix the nose when I work on it tomorrow. It might look less off when I get mouth laid in. I did get most of the hair laid in, at least the top. I'm trying to work my way down to reduce the chance of smearing. I've thought about blending with one of the paper stumps but just using both pencils over each seems to be going pretty well. I'm really afraid to use the stump because I'm happy with what I have and I'm afraid to mess it up. Though I do think some of it could use some extra blending, though that may be just me being overly picky.

"Angel on my Shoulder" Updates

I did get the hand and the rest of the white filled in on the face. I need to fix a few things with the palm, and I didn't get as much of the hair filled in as I wanted. I can work on that more tonight, hopefully. If I don't get to work on it tonight I can definitely find time tomorrow. I'm also thinking now the nose may be a little crooked, but I can fix that when I start to fill in the white there. I'm still no closer to figuring out the background than I was before. I may go looking through Grandma's old things on Tuesday for inspiration.

Angel on my Shoulder: progress

I didn't add much to the overall sketch but I started adding in the white. I like the fingers for the most part, a few darks need to be work on, but the knuckles are looking a bit wide to me. I think I need to work that out. I was playing with the idea of cropping the composition at the top to match the reference photo. I'm still at a loss for the background, but I just made the realization that I'm really happy I included my hand in this.

"Angel on my Shoulder"

I have this title in mind since I came up with the concept. I'll explain the concept and title when the piece is finished. So far I'm really happy with the progress. I think I need to to thicken the wrist and maybe lengthen the palm. The nose almost looks like I might have started a mustache under it right now because I initially made the nose too long. I was thinking the angle of the nose was wrong until I looked at this photo, I think it's actually right. Right now I'm going to use a flat black background, mostly because I'm focusing on the light of the figure and also I'm not sure what I would put in the background. The reference photo is no help, the background is just a messy room (I cleaned after I took the photo, doesn't make much sense I know). I may still do something in the background, not sure though. I've seen a lot of portrait with what seems to be just a plain wall with some sort of decorative element on it. I may try something like that.

Also I have to say I've had this general idea that for this piece that I had been struggling to find a composition for, and I got inspiration for this from Erin McCarley's "Pitter-Pat" though my concept really doesn't match up with her song just a few lines matched up with my thoughts and I came up with the idea for the pose.

Reflective

I finished that small self portrait. It's only 5" x 7" but I feel really good about going into the next drawing. I'll start the next drawing in the next few days and some progress shots up. The next drawing is going to be about the size of "Angelic."