The Backstroke….wraps up

I knew that I had to figure out this “water” situation.  How best to mimic it’s appearance….over the shoulder, in the pool, with the splashes. So, I did only as much as I dared before I cried for “Help”.





My Art teacher showed me a few techniques to mimic the water.  Here’s my playful piece.  Lots of different stuff going on here.  Not much detail, broke it down the way he suggested I see it.  I broke it down in 4 sections.  Bottom….2 mid levels, and top foamy portion.





Started out very hesitantly…





The water was still missing something.  I liked working with the colored pencils over graphite.  Not as cotton-bally since the color adds more dimension.





Gave up duplicating the photo a long time ago [for this water].  Once I started to apply water droplets….it helped.  I had to show haphazard water movement in some way and my shading in [puzzle piece technique] wasn’t working.  Grounded the image above the lane-lines with watercolor pencils.  I tried to match the lower portion (done with colored pencils only).


Such a sweet face….on a very sweet young lady!

Backstroke….Continues

A close-up of the goggles in process.  I first went in with the blue…then the orange (it’s opposite), and finished with the black.  I may have to use a black marker to darken the area thoroughly. 





What a joy!  I could draw goggles all day.  They don’t have to be exact to look like themselves.





I have no idea what I’m doing to reflect the water coming over the swimmer’s shoulder.  May have to work on something else for awhile until I get guidance.

Backstroke….starts

Last week I got an email from my daughter’s friend.  She had noticed that I liked to draw and she said she had a picture that she’d like me to do.  So….she sent me the link to the image. [See the above]  Her link sent me to her school’s picture site.  Ugh!  I thought she had an individual jpeg.  Wonderful photography but…. how in the world could I replicate the image with that huge watermark-logo plastered all over it?  


Some people suggested I just sketch around it….you know, work with the image in this state.  No way…..I would not be a “happy camper” having had to train my eye to draw what is there and then Omit what I see when I draw.  I’m nowhere near that good.





So….I broke down and bought the 4x6 of the image.  Once I received it in the mail, I  scanned it and started on my drawing. 


Since I’m really all about “coloring in the image”, my Art instructor said with photo-realism it is perfectly acceptable to cut out the image and use it like a template, like you see here.  Remember….it’s harder to erase colored pencils… I am limited with my flexibility once I put the color down.  The paper can just take so much abuse.





Did the acetate grid trick again and started with the nose.





Worked on this for about 3 hours yesterday.  This was coming together better than expected, so nice to go straight into coloring.  Best to keep those expectations low!





Doing my best to keep these pencils sharp.





There is a huge advantage to drawing swimmers…….I don’t have to worry about getting the eyes right.  Yea Baby!