Animal Life

Here are some drawings I did when we went on a class trip to the Western park museum in Sheffield. I was able to look around at all the different animal life that was to be seen there and it was nice to just sit down or stand and draw the magnificent creatures.

I really like my Crocodile head drawing (top) because I spent longest on this drawing and wanted to get all the dteail down that was on the actual skull at the museum.

Update on drawing techniques

We have been doing life drawing for a few weeks now and I believe I have already improved on my drawing skills. This is because I was able to be in a quiet environment with a piece of paper and a tool and just to draw on the paper what I saw in front of me.

I haven't used charcoal much, but I am beginning to really like it and in fact I almost prefer it better than pencil because you can get much more detail down in a faster time and sometimes it looks better because of the way you can smudge it with your fingers for shading and effects.

I have been practicing with my thumb and finger and preparing myself before I start drawing by marking certain points on my paper by mapping them out using my hands and even a pencil in front of my eye. At first I didn't think this technique would work but it really does help. This has really helped me because I always get proportion wrong and it is so much better if you have points mapped out on the page before you start,  like a line where the feet and and the head is and how far the arms spread out for example.