Black Mamba

This one's a reinterpretation of an actual picture: the girl, pose and knife were all there, but since some parts of it were out of focus, I ended up making a few modifications, starting with black gloves, which in turn lead to an all black suit (black! black!). I rather like "the comic book art" feel of this one. Other titles that were considered included "Nightstalker", "Lady Death" and (briefly) "The Princess Blade" (all based on movies/manga). The model's love-hate relation with snakes (or should that be fascination-terror) won out in the end though. Once again, beauty and danger make a lethal combination.

Little Miss Mischief

Another subject"revisited". This little girl was one of my very first models and the resulting drawing (based on a different picture) showed it mercilessly. So I *had* to do another one. This one's based on a really small picture (pasfoto) and came out roughly A4-sized. This reduced image doesn't quite do it justice, in my opinion, so click on the picture for a full size view.

Milestone - Part 2

The second (and final) part of my "paid" commission. Pencil-wise nothing particularly out of the ordinary. I have used hard pencils (3H & 4H) on the tie and shirt for a smooth, silklike finish and a medium B for the rest. Had a slight stress about meeting the deadline due to being away from home and having forgotten to take the half-finished portrait with me. All's well that ends well, ey?

Milestone - Part 1

I'm calling this one a "milestone" because it's the first of two drawings that make up my first "paid" commission. I'm a long way from retiring and living of my art (in fact, I'm quite positive that will never happen), but I still think it's a definite step showing how far I've come. A new challenge with this one is coming up with a way to represent the texture of whool. After thinking about it, I decided to just go for a general impression, by devising a pattern that would be quick and easy to draw (there was a lot of surface to cover after all). It's not perfect and I'll be looking to improve it in the next one, but for now it works wel enough.