Sworn to Protect - Finished!

[Jazz]

Awww.... I absolutely adore the way the horse is looking at the little girl -beautifully done.
The only thing I'm not sure of is the tilt of the little girls head -right now its not reading quite right, ie not tilted up enough. The impression at the moment is that they are not making eye contact -I dont know if I am making any sense?!
Other than that I think its all telling a lovely story which is what I love to see in art.

Ali(Jazz)

[moolane]

Everartpat:

I think it is a mixture of things. The arm IS too light, but the photo does wash it out a little.

Thank you very much for your comments/suggestions!

[moolane]

Originally Posted by Jazz

Awww.... I absolutely adore the way the horse is looking at the little girl -beautifully done.
The only thing I'm not sure of is the tilt of the little girls head -right now its not reading quite right, ie not tilted up enough. The impression at the moment is that they are not making eye contact -I dont know if I am making any sense?!
Other than that I think its all telling a lovely story which is what I love to see in art.

Ali(Jazz)

Thank you, Ali!!

Hmmm....yes, that is a very good point about the eye contact. I don't know if I'll be able to fix it at this point. I have SO many layers on the little girl's hair because I've been having trouble getting it to the right shade.

Anyone: Any suggestions on getting the head to look "tipped up?"

[moolane]

Originally Posted by marieUK

So sorry Michelle, I dont know how I missed this. I really like it, its a challenging piece being a black horse. I love the way you've handled the blanket and the girls hair is gorgeous. I do agree with Pat about the arm though. I shall make sure I don't miss you're next update.

Thank you very much!!

[moolane]

Originally Posted by KJSieloff

This is beautifully done! I love the whole story - and I agree with everyone in that the folds in the horse's neck and the clothing are very well done too!!

Also agree with Pat though - with the level of detail in the horse itself, you need a little more definition in the girl's arms, etc. That is unless the scan or photo is washing it out. At any rate, beautiful!!

Kate

I'm a horse nut, so I tend to pay more attention to the details in them than other things. I'll keep working on the arms!!

Thanks!

[moolane]

Here is the latest update. The second one is a funky angle, but I think it shows the colors better. I have got to learn how to take better pics of my art...





I am DESPERATE for ideas on what to do about the little girl's hair. It still seems too orange to me. Suggestions on how to tone it down?

Thanks everyone for looking/commenting!!

[Jazz]

If you want to tone down orangey/red then a light layer of green/blue would help. Also, I had an idea how you can tilt her head more..well give the appearance -how about a horizontal shadow in her hair two -thirds of the way down her head? you know... so its curving -following her natural line.

and depending on where the light is coming from you could have a lighter touch on the top of her head...Sorry if I'm not being very helpful
Anyway just to say -I love the colour of her hair and this is a fantastic piece.

[moolane]

After much sweat and a few tears, I've finally finished this piece. This is the piece that I was referring to in the thread "I Can Just Cry." As I tried to fix the "orangeness" of the little girl's hair, the pencil started to flake off. I should've just left the hair alone, but NO....I had to keep at it and create a problem.

To fix this piece, I used my Icarus board (on the hottest setting) and creamy pencils such as Luminance and Coloursoft. It took several days of layering color, then spraying with fixative to get it to cover the places that had flaked off.

The hair still doesn't look quite right to me, but I just need to accept it as it is and move on....

[marieUK]

As I said before this is superb !!! It is very difficult to know when to say its time to stop and I think thats as important as how well we draw or paint. It can be the make or break of a work of art. This time you pulled it together. Well done !!!

[bib]

Very nice finish! Concept and rendering are great!

[smudged-blue]

Wow this is great, I Love how the horse turned out, must have been hard so much black.
Could you tell me a little about the Icarus board. I've been a little curious lately as to what they are like to use, but don't really know anything about them. Do they make your paper ripple from the heat of them?
Once again I think you did really well this.

[KarenESP]

The interaction between the horse and the little girl is perfect and the red hair and deep brown eye really make the peice pop.

[Candle]

Well from what I can tell you made a good save; I don't see flaws on the hair. And the horse's expression really gives this piece a lot of feeling. Nice finish!

[moolane]

Candle: Thank you very much! I'm glad that you think that the hair is flawless. LOL!
Karen ESP: Thank you! I really appreciate your comments. The interaction between the little girl and horse is what really attracted me to the reference photo.
bib: Thank you for your comments and taking the time to view my piece!
Marie: Thank you!! Yes, one of the most important things an artist needs to learn is when to stop painting!

[BettiePage]

Amazing, it's so hard to do a realistic horse like that.. i especially like the expression in it's eyes. Beautiful work!