Animals in Black & White

For this project the goal was to draw an animal or animals using only black and white (or very selective color). We could choose dinosaur figurines or the other random animal figurines we'd been working with the past few weeks. I chose to a llama and a kangaroo. I knew I wanted to do two animals to challenge myself. I decided to draw their faces up close to focus on the details. I wanted to create this personal scene between two animals that wouldn't normally interact. I left it up to the viewer to decide what is happening between these two animals.

I held the figurines very close to my face and sketched their faces using a 4H pencil. I chose this toned paper because it is something I've worked with briefly before and really enjoyed. I centered the heads because there was enough difference in the face shapes for it to seem too balanced. I decided to use charcoal because it is not a material I usually like working with. I found that the charcoal didn't blend well especially with the white charcoal. I had to leave my lines gestural. I really liked the texture I was able to create, especially on the llama. I love the contrast of the charcoal and white charcoal on the toned paper. For the background I decided to remain relatively simple using crosshatching to make some more texture in the piece.

Because we had to do a black and white drawing I found myself wanting to use color. Although I thought this was a good project and it forced me to more technical. I am happy with the outcome.