Sacred Kitten - white paper

[SidneyEileen]

This is one of the other pieces I finished last weekend. I applied fixative, and based on advice I received here, drew on the whiskers with watercolor pencil. It's an attempt to achieve the same impact on white paper (intense detail, fading into the paper) that I have been achieving with the black-paper pieces.

Drawn entirely with Prismacolor pencils. Most of the fur is in various French Greys, with some black layered in for the darkest points around the mouth and nose. It was created referencing a photo of a sacred birma kitten.

Any C&C are welcome. The eyes are not the same size. My bad. The first image is compositional, the second is a close-up of the kitten.



http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/15-Jun-2008/141872-sacred_kitten.jpghttp://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/15-Jun-2008/141872-sacred_kitten-crop.jpg

[ams]

This is lovely Sid. The blue eyes are so expressive.

Anne

[Neillydun]

Very nice! Just as effective as the white on black. Love the blue eyes.

["J"]

I think the eyes are just perfect. Wouldn't want them any smaller. Gorgeous.

[NancyPH]

Fantastic job Sidney!! :clap: Gorgeous kitty!!

[Mary Woodul]

Quite capturing, I love this.

[IslanderNL]

Beautiful work. The fur looks so soft and the eyes...very striking

[TessDB]

Oh, lovely, Sid! :thumbsup:

Your handling of the fur is excellent. And those eyes are just fab! Sooo.... which do you prefer? Doing this style on black or white?

Rosemary

[ArtsyBren]

This is so special, Sidney! The kitten's fur has so much depth but those eyes...so wonderful!

[SidneyEileen]

Sorry about the typo. It's a Sacred Birman kitten, not a Sacred Birma (the later of which isn't a type of cat at all ;)).

Thanks for all the kind comments. I'm glad everyone enjoyed the drawing, and I appreciate the feedback. It can sometimes be a bit difficult for me to guage whether or not these reduced subject pieces really translate to the viewer, and comments like the ones I have received here let me know that yes, despite any reservations I may have, it does have the impact I am looking for. :wave:

Rosemary, I honestly couldn't say which I like more. I am greatly enjoying this style, and the white is much more difficult for me to conceptualize, so it has the draw of a burning challenge. I think it depends upon the piece, and there are a lot of things I want to try on the white paper which I think will look better on that ground. I also plan to do work in other colors. I'm just having a heap of fun with it, and am overflowing with ideas I don't have time to bring to life. :D

[CRYork]

This is a beautiful kitten! This proves that you can get great depth and effect using grays! Wonderful job!

Char

[Lady Carol]

Beautiful. They eyes have it. The colour is lovely.

[Lady Carol]

The kitten is wonderfully done and the eyes are captivating.

Um! One question if you do not mind. If the kitten is a Birman, should it not have gloved feet and a face mask? The breed comes from Siamese. Not sure how the gloved feet came into being as Siamese do not have them.

[bigs]

This kitten is fabulous!

As for the gloved feet they seem to usually be white, which one is, the other could just be the shaded coat overhanging the foot. And kittens do not have a full mask, but that central colour which appears to widen into a mask as they grow.

As someone who is particular with my dog pics I can understand how it can gall if you see something that isn't quite right, but the majority of the population will just see "the cutest" puppy or kitten.

[GoldenArt]

Sid, For me this one is top shelf. This is very well done. Rick

[kp84]

Those eyes are outstanding!
Love it!

[SidneyEileen]

Carol, to answer your question, it's pretty much as Sue described. The reference kitten has muted coloring (not sure what the right term is, but the points are not a high-saturation color), and the darkest parts around the nose are from darker fur, not shading. Also the toes (what of them are barely visible beneath the chest fur) are somewhat shaded from light by the fluffier fur. I think that might have been clearer if I had left the feet a little lighter in color. Now that I am looking at the coloration in particular, I also see that I did not retain a sharp shading difference where the coloring faded into cream.

Thank you for pointing that out. I like to keep those kinds of specific details in mind, but they didn't come through as clearly as they could have in this piece. :wave:

If you're curious, the reference photo is here: http://claudiabirmans.deviantart.com/art/Sacred-Birman-78643139

[Hoofnpaw]

The eyes are wonderful! It is a very captivating piece---love the white on white! If I understand you correctly, you applied the fixitive, and then you were able to put the whiskers in? Nice technique---Much more effective than impressing them in before hand.

Sean

[Shadow Bea]

Very Nice!!:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: