Hmm, thanks Heikki but I don’t see how I could have done much more in the way of contrast. I don’t usually use black. Lights and darks are pretty much how my reference looked. More to the point the drawing has been sprayed with fixative, non-workable, so it is done, with all its flaws.

I am not looking for photo realism here, if I wanted a photo I would just print the original and I have done some simplification of forms and background.

Thanks huanghehe, I made this photo in Boston, MA in Feb 2016, we had had several weeks that winter with at least one snow storm a week so the ground was covered with a couple feet of snow (and yes I do mean feet) I was in the park area along the Charles River, the squirrels there (as in all Boston Parks) are habituated to people (they get fed) so I am fairly sure this one was looking for a hand out. But they make good photo subjects, esp compared to squirrels in more wild locations.

Delo

It was a bright sunny day in Feb. when I made the photo, light is bouncing around because the ground was covered in a couple feet of snow, so it was reflected up from the ground, also I lightened the photo a bit in Photoshop so I could get details rather than just draw a black area. My last problem was that the paper reached a point where it didn’t want to accept much more pencil, so some areas aren’t quite as dark as I would have preferred. Something for me to keep in mind on my next drawing.

If you are curious here is my reference: