WhatchamaDRAWit

A Baseball Player Holding a Tennis Racket Chasing a Mouse Running up an Ant Hole.

7" X 10"

The concept of this drawing is a baseball player holding a tennis racket chasing a mouse running up an ant hole. The story I invented to explain how this event occurred is that a girl has gym class, but she forgot her gym clothes. So, she has to use her baseball outfit to play tennis. While they are playing tennis, a mouse runs through the court and she runs after it to get a photo. When the mouse sees a human carrying a tennis racket running at it, the mouse runs up an ant hole and to it's own home. This project relates to my life because I practiced foreshortening and creating a sense of movement in my artwork. Recently, I've gotten in the habit of sketching a few thumbnail versions of my drawings so that I can get ideas for what I want to do. In this drawing, I wanted the viewer to look at the girl's face, then the tennis racket, then the mouse, then the edge of the baseball diamond, and back to the girl's face.

I started by sketching thumbnails with a HB pencil. After I decided on a composition, I sketched in the basic shapes with a 4H pencil slowly adding more and more detail. After I finished that stage, I used a 6B pencil to emphasise the lines that I like and adjust the lines that I didn't like. Lastly, I used a white gel pen to create highlights.

I used line to activate the space by splitting the negative space up. Additionally, I used line to create a sense of movement. I used the direction of the trees, grass, and hair to the most important aspects of this drawing. I showed texture in the grass and trees in the background. I used value to emphasise important lines and shapes. My project started as a prompt. Then, it became a set of thumbnail sketches. After that, it was a rough sketch. I adjusted the hill the mouse is climbing up. Then, I used a softer pencil to create darker sections. The biggest next-step for this drawing would be to add pen. Currently, the graphite has a shine which negates much of the contrast that I tried to make. I might also consider using grey alcohol markers to neaten the drawing overall.