- Chrome Rising - Final
"Chrome Rising" - 6" x 6" scratchboard. 1941 Cadillac hood ornament, from my own reference photo.
Scratched with a #16 X-acto & an eyebrow tattoo needle (on the hood of the car), re-inked (stippling) with a technical pen.
I was mostly happy with the previous version of this drawing, but the contrast between the hood & the background in the corner bothered me. It pulled the eye right off the edge. I re-worked the hood to make it darker and now it reads better. I stippled with a technical pen to make the entire hood darker, and then scratched to blend & add highlights.
Part of the reason I didn't anticipate the issue in the corner is that I usually erase the backgrounds in Photoshop to save printer ink and avoid distraction from the subject. This a case where that worked against me, because in the photo, the background was white, so I wasn't seeing that contrast between the hood & the solid black background until I was finished. See the next 2 images - my reference photos... - Chrome Rising - Reference Photo 2
To give me a better idea of how to re-work the hood, I took that section of the reference and made it darker. That brought up some details that I could incorporate. - Chrome Rising - Reference Photo 1
Here's the original reference photo. You can see the hood was white, but without a dark background, the contrast situation wasn't distracting. - Chrome Rising - detail of process on hood
Close up of the eyebrow tattoo needle. It has multiple sharp pins that create a linear scratch pattern. - Chrome Rising - detail of process on hood
The section on the bottom left shows how it looks after I've scratched w/the #16 X-acto blade. - Chrome Rising - detail of process on hood
I used the tattoo needle in the lengthwise direction, then in an angled direction (but not 90 degrees to the other direction). - Off Duty? - Final
Finished! 5" x 7" scratchboard (Ampersand Scratchbord), with watercolor and some India ink for re-inking & drawing long, black hairs. From my own reference photo taken at a dog play day many years ago. - Chrome Rising - detail of process on hood
My trusty #16 X-acto. I used it to further scratch the area where I've used the tattoo needle. That breaks up the linear effect, I want a smoooooth effect on the hood. - Off Duty? 4
With color (watercolor). I didn't spend a ton of time on color-correcting this scan. The dog looks pretty accurate, but the water isn't quite right. I'll take more time when I scan the final. At any rate, in the home stretch at this point. Next:scratching to add highlights on the dog, and separate him from the background. - Ranger 2
First layer of scratching on the dog is finished. Also some re-inking in a few places to add darks back in. Watercolor on the water too. That's streaky in places, but scratching in select areas will fix that. Next steps on Ranger will be scratching/re-inking to fine-tune and build depth. Then I can add color to him. - Ubiquitous Bodie Car - '37 Chevy
I think everyone takes photos of this car. But it IS really cool! - Pygmy Goat
Very stylish Pygmy Goat - Ranger 1
Early stage of a 12" x 9" portrait of Ranger the German Shepherd Reference photo provided by my client Ranger loved the water, so that's what's going on in the background. It will taper off into black at the top, but otherwise it will look very much like the water technique I developed on "Determination" See it here: www.annran.com/website/gallery/pet-portraits/dogs/determination - Off Duty? 1
5" x 7" scratchboard of a Border Collie: "Off Duty?" because anyone who knows Border Collies knows they're working even when they're playing. - Another View of the Bodie Car