The Devils Hole
MATERIALS
• Drawing Board
• Acid free masking tape
• Arches 300gsm Cold
• Press Derwent Rag ‘Sketch paper and Wash’ pencils, HB and 4B
• Derwent ‘Graphitint’ pencils, #01 Port, #04 Indigo, #14 Russet
• ½” Taklon Dagger Brush
• #10 Taklon Round Brush
• #1 Series 7 Windsor Newton sable brush
• Art Spectrum Artists White gouache
• Staedler Mars ‘Karat’ Aquarelle pencils. #129-59 indigo and #124-79 brown
• Staedler Mars 2.mm ‘technico’ pencils HB, 2B, 4B
• Staedler Mars ‘barrel’ sharpener for Technico pencils, standard pencil sharpener for the Derwents/Karats
• Blue tack
• Cotton gloves
STEP ONE
Before I draw I like to meet the animal, to see it move, see it interact with others, listen to it, even smell it! When you sketch from life it helps you to work out the anatomy and form of the creature. Often you will note something in the field that may not be obvious on a photograph. I use life sketches as a form of visual note taking that I can refer to back in the studio. As well as sketching from life, I will take many digital photos of the animal from as many angles as possible. You can never have too much photographic reference! And with digital photography you can take hundreds of shots without costing a fortune. These sketches of young Devils were done at the Halls Gap Zoo, Victoria 2012 One of my sketches and four series of shots in particular enticed me and that is the image I will work up into a finished drawing.
STEP TWO
Having decided on my main reference
