Mixed Media Drawing

The subject of my artwork is my dog Bear, which I created with graphite and charcoal. I chose this photo to draw because I thought that it was a funny picture. I began this artwork by drawing a grid over the picture of my dog to map out where my lines and shadows should go. I then used graphite to sketch out the outline of my dog's body, and face. Lastly, I used charcoal to shade in his face, goggles, and the background. I used line, texture, contrast, and value in this project.

I wanted my artwork to capture the humor of my dog wearing goggles; I did this by keeping the rest of the drawing simple and focusing on details in his face. I like the way his head and body shape ended up looking. However, I struggled with getting my background to be one solid shade, but in the end that didn't matter much to me because I like the look of the splotchy background anyways. In this project I learned how to use the graphing method when drawing realistically.