MATERIALS
• 3B Pencil • Eraser.
• Winsor & Newton Smooth Surface Cartridge Paper 220gsm.
• Pigma Micron 005 Pen (Black).
• Large dining room table.
• Relaxing CDs (especially Medwyn Goodall and anything Celtic).
• Nag Champa Incense.
I was commissioned to do this drawing by a couple who had the pleasure of meeting ‘Jama’ the King Cheetah at Canberra Zoo early last year. King Cheetah are a very rare genetic variation of Cheetah where the spots join to form ‘stripes’. There are under 100 King Cheetah in the world, most of which are in zoos and wildlife parks. Sadly, Jama passed away in August 2008 – and I feel honoured to have done this drawing in his memory.
STEP ONE
The initial pencil sketch is purely to place important features. I really draw with the pen. If I have trouble getting it right, I will trace onto a clean piece of paper. I like to get the pencil rubbed out as soon as possible because it annoys me.
STEP TWO
I always do the eyes first, as they are absolutely the crucial part – and if I’m not happy the whole thing gets canned and I start again. The only part of a drawing I practice before I start is a couple of eyes. It’s so important to get that ‘glint’ in the eye – just one dot too many can take the light right out. At this stage I won’t finish the eyes; they look too ‘disconnected without the rest of the face completed. Once I’m satisfied the eyes will be OK, I ‘feather’ over all the pencil lines in the face so that I can rub out the pencil. It’s important even at this stage to take note of the direction of the fur and to draw each hair in the right direction so it tapers at the end. The only long straight line you’ll find in one of my animals is a whisker!
STEP THREE
I need to get the nose and mouth in and join’ them to the eyes to be certain the face will look right. Really pale areas, such as above each eye, will be left white at this stage so I don’t run the risk of overworking them. Some pale areas will only need a few strokes in them.
Most of the face is now filled in, but will need more touching up. I won’t go back to it until the rest of the body is completed. I make his ears a bit larger and more alert as I think he looks a bit bored!
STEP FOUR
I move on to the body and gradually work my way down, outlining darker areas such as spots and stripes, very lightly hinting at the paler areas in between. I get rid of the pencil markings as soon as possible. Short fur equals short pen strokes and long fur equals longer (not so parallel) strokes. I never draw a solid line on the outer edge; and I try to keep everything going in the right direction.
The neck area where the fur is longer is tricky – it’s hard to work out which direction the fur is going in, so I decide to leave this area for a while until the rest of the drawing is more complete.
I put in some dotted lines to indicate the rock Jama is sitting on, so that he is grounded and not floating on the page. I have absolutely no idea how I’m going to do rock!
STEPS FIVE AND SIX
Filling in all the spots makes a huge difference and at last I can see the final composition. At this stage I keep moving all around the body and face, creating more tones and depth.
I feel the need to leave the fur for a while and start working on the rock, gradually indicating different areas of interest. I leave the drawing on an easel when I’m not working on it, constantly walking past and studying it to see what I want to change.
STEP SEVEN
Believe it or not, I didn’t even practice rock; I just bit the bullet and played around – even using three pens at once (bound together with a rubber band) to start off! I actually feel this produced some interesting textures and depths which I wasn’t expecting. I tried to make it look hard and angular, to contrast with the rest of the drawing.
After more study on the easel, I decide Jama deserves more space around him and extend the sides and bottom of the drawing – more on the right-hand side – to balance the composition. Time consuming, but worth it.
FINAL STEP
At this stage, I study the drawing much more than the photograph I’m working from; what looks right in the photograph doesn’t necessarily look right in the drawing. Just a few hairs here and there to darken certain areas can make a huge difference to the depth of the drawing. His nose looks a bit crooked, so I manage to straighten it by darkening the righthand side slightly. Most of the parts I was worried about look better now, so it’s not difficult to get them right.
I decide the rock needs to be a really solid base for him to sit on, so I work a lot more on darkening it – being wary not to overpower the drawing. His paws get a bit ‘lost’ and I have to darken their outline slightly.
Knowing when to stop is difficult. To prevent me overworking a drawing, I have a rule where once I’ve put the whiskers on I don’t make any more changes … just the signature.
MASTER HINTS AND TIPS
•Take it slowly! This is all about a gradual build-up of light and shade. With this drawing technique, mistakes are almost impossible to correct and can really only be blended in and ‘hidden’. When I have a problem area, I concentrate on the surrounding areas to detract from it (a black dot on a grey background stands out less than on a white background). The biggest danger is overworking as the drawing simply gets darker and darker.
• Practice different drawing techniques to produce different surface textures. Play around, ‘doodle’, see what effects you can create. I find the only way to portray a smooth surface is using pointillism – its very timeconsuming and hand-cramping but can produce incredible results, especially for the glassy’ look of eyes. I rarely use crosshatching; it reminds me of drawings of old buildings.
• Every artist has failures (I don’t even want to think about my first attempt at drawing Jama), but it’s important to remember that every success is better than the one before.
