5:54 in the morning. Part I

It's 5:54 AM, on the cusp of morning. The other half is at work, and I, at a Starbucks. As a millenial, of course I have just enough to have earned a reward for a free drink, 3 shot Latte Machiatto. The car is in need of repair, I have learned, mid-twenties, to finally learn of car pieces, ordering the part needed online. With the wheel hub in box on my passenger seat, I walk, with sketchbook and pens in hand, to the green mermaid inlaid cafe.

The air is sourly sweetened by the ocean air. Cool and crisp, the sky seems to float lightly and brightly, almost as if outlined with polish or a glitter gelly roll pen.

It's perfect. With my hair swirled and piled high on my head, nails just painted by myself the day before, I sit and draw.

"Tamaska", a red wolf at Wolf Haven International.

Today's art piece is the red wolf. Terribly endangered in the world we live in today, strong conservation efforts have been put into place to keep this beautiful, shy and graceful beast alive.

With a recent visit to Wolf Haven International in Olympia, WA, I was able to learn about the special breeding program there, and see the vast area of America in where they used to live, to the now mere finger print smudge of a size where they live now.




To better interest you about the Red Wolf, and not bore you on my rant, let's move on. On to the art!

Step 1: Get that idea on paper
I have sketched out the Red Wolf portrait, with the help of reference photos and multiple tries at getting the eyes balanced.
















Step 2: Fur!

Once everything is balanced, it's time to fill in the fur. I have already done a couple of therapy-fur rounds, and am now completing the first layer of black fur at the cafe.                    

The most enjoyable, yet challenging, part about the fur is following the natural direction of the flow. I am not going to lie, I have to use a reference picture. If I don't, I lose the balance and sense of where it goes. 

Smokey Wolf and Cups of Honey Milk Coffee

Hello Everyone!

How are you all doing? Busy with life, but still passionate and positive I hope? :]

Although it doesn't seem like it through my blog, I've been very busy in the art world, and it's great!
I'm so in love with making art postcards, and since my latest post, playing with new media!

I've found I love working with anything from sharpie to white-out, to watercolor pencils to copic color pens, gelly pens and even highlighters! Depending on the mood of the picture, what it's portraying and what should be colored draws me to the certain media I use for each picture.

On that note, let's get started with this step-by-step post!

Step 1: Start with, well, your supplies!

In this case, to start with anyway, a blank postcard canvas, pencil and eraser is all that's needed.  (for now)

Step 2: Let's Sketch!

I already had an idea of a wolf filling up half the space of the postcard, coming toward the viewer. 

However, I ran into problems with the pose. So I worked it, and re-worked it, and worked it again. And finally realized, it was the legs throwing me off, and preferred the pose on the right. 

With the legs in this pose, I realized it had more of a realistic look to it. 

And, as you can tell from the picture above, I had a hard time with the eye placement. Once I figured it out, I made sure I filled it in!

Now, what's a smokey wolf without any smoke? Let's add details, yay!

The sketch form is now finished and it's time for the next step!