Traditional Art

Week 1

ThinkTank Museum Trip - Animal Taxidermy Observation:

For this block of traditional art, we have a great focus on animals - we will be observing and drawing them, familiarising ourselves with their anatomy and muscle groups, and finally sculpting them with clay. Since we've never drawn animals at university, we kickstarted this block with a practice session at the museum ThinkTank, visiting the animal taxidermy exhibit to study their forms, structure and proportion, then rendering to capture their textures such as fur, rough hides, and scaly skin.

Outcomes:

I did get a few drawings done and they're decent, I believe I could've done more but I really enjoyed taking in the sights of the museum, even outside the animal exhibit - just getting to look at creatures I'd never seen in real life up close was a marvel, the taxidermy was done intricately and with great detail, truly capturing their visages to perfection - it felt as though I were facing a live animal right there.

Some of the proportions were a little janky and I will elaborate on those, but I did succeed in capturing the likeness of some animals, such as the swan and bear. I also feel I could've developed a lot of the drawings through rendering more, and committed to tone as most of these are really light. Overall though, it was super fun to draw so many types of species with such vastly differing bone structures and features ranging from beaks to antlers. I look forward to creating an observation in A3 so I can hone in on the detail of whatever creature I choose.

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(Block 1's stinky deer thing)

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Deers and stag-type animals of the cervidae group can be super challenging, they're gorgeous creatures and I believe that's recognised in the art sphere, I see this animal in particular drawn a lot for its subtle grace and representation of purity, not to mention, its unique antlers which really set it apart from other animals.

Of course, I wanted to give it a go and I do believe I did a good job in capturing its structure which is something I've struggled with in the past - in block 1, I tried drawing the wood-carved deer(?) figurine. It didn't go horribly but it does look like it was drawn from memory, likely because of the unnaturally large eyes, and their extrusion being TOO wide. Since it was the mark-making piece, I couldn't rely on tone to convey the foreshortening of the snout.

I'd say it went much better this time around, perhaps because I learned from that experience, but I also believe having a large, realistic replica to reference was a great help. This mix between the 3/4 and profile angle was conveyed through my placing emphasis on the silhouette of the head - I ensured the eyelid of the hidden eye was shown to communicate how this isn't a full profile view. I also made sure the mouth curved for the same effect, showing that the centre of the skull rests near the edge of the drawing. I used inconsistent directional hatching to render the antlers to give them a bone mixed with wood textural read - I believe I definitely could've rendered more of the fur despite its light local value as that would've helped communicate the core shadow and elevated the thin fur hide, but overall I captured the appearance of the deer much better this time with better proportions that make sense.

The lynx was another sketchy little doodle. I took advantage of my knowledge of cat's heads being vaguely triangular (upside-down). I used a faint triangle to build the details upon, with the eyes at the two topmost corners and those lines converging below to mark the mouth. Since this cat species is larger and wild, I made sure its nose/mouth were enlarged not only to convey the larger scale of this creature compared to domestic cats, but also to show its function for heightened awareness with smell and a stronger jaw to hunt.

I already knew the eyes were way too close together, so I corrected them and distanced them further but I need to utilise exaggeration to communicate likeness as we do with portraits in character, since the eyes still weren't far enough apart. It's important that I remember to measure too, we know the parameters of measuring human skulls, but not animals, so making custom measurements with our pencils is a good strategy in attaining the right proportions.

The ginormous bear took centre stage in the taxidermy exhibit with a spot light directed at it, really placing emphasis on it so I had to draw it, especially since I'd only done small drawings so far. This one was dedicated to a full A4 page, and I started by faintly blocking out primitive shapes to capture the bear's structure and any foreshortening occurring, such as in the snout very slightly, and the back legs. It took a few tries to place the eyes correctly, but I used my pencil at a horizontal angle to notice how the planes of the face tilt down from the left, meaning the right eye was positioned lower.

Once everything was blocked out proportion-wise, Teo came over and suggested I try a method in which I don't mark specific details but shade it in, building the detail with tone - essentially going straight to rendering. This was a great piece of advice as I've always felt I struggle with making components of a scene look integrated as I outline them before rendering, so this helped as I just shaded everything in. In terms of the fur, I used blocks of tone to represent the grouped up fur, using scribbly hatching for the defined strands and separating these blocks of value to appear like separate groups of fur.

This method was a great success and he does look shaggy and fluffy as a wild bear would, so I would like to continue this piece to completion and even add some environmental detail like faint trees affected by aerial diffusion, or some grassy patches. If I really wanna go crazy with it, I may apply lots of tone to depict the dampness of the bear's fur as it wades across a stream, hunting salmon that shoot from the water in attempting escape.

Dev Log Evaluation:

This session was so much fun, I had a wonderful time at the museum drawing different kinds of animals ranging from birds, to woodland deers, and savannah sprawling wildcats. I learned a lot from observing these creatures up close, in using rendering techniques to emulate their fur or feathers, constructing their unique anatomy in 3D form, etc.

My main struggle was not committing to the unique features of certain animals, like the large space between the lynx's eyes which made it look uncanny, along with not rendering enough. Even just some mark-making to imply texture would've brought some doodles much further. However, I do believe I did well with the bear, my final drawing from the session which demonstrated the lessons I learned!

I plan to finish this bear drawing and start a new one depicting a hare, ideally in colour pencils since those are available to use in this piece. I have small hare statues I can reference with photos from different angles to assist me in creating the clay sculpture, so it'd help to do a hare drawing as practice for the clay, observing its fur and muscle groups.

Week 2

Animal Observation Drawing - Colour Pencils:

For this session, we were given the task of observing an animal of our choice with multiple reference photos to create our artistic interpretation to a realistic degree. Going into this task was exciting for me as I'd anticipated it, pondering what animal to draw - this is due to my desire of sculpting the same animal I draw so I have thorough knowledge going into it. Drawing my animal of choice will aid me in learning their anatomy, unique characteristics and form.

Choosing my Animal:
I'd made the choice of observing a hare for various reasons; to start, I find their anatomy to be unique. As distant cousins to rabbits, they share the same endearing features of large ears and hopping manoeuvres but I believe rabbits are often too chubby and fluffy for the clay sculpture I want to create. Hare's fur is earthy in tone and relatively coarse, meaning it'll be fun to use mark-making to depict this characteristic. Along with this, I had a preference for hares due to essentially being freakified rabbits - they take the unique features of rabbits and multiply them, almost seeming like a caricature of them which will be great for my sculpt as identifying these exaggerated forms like the lanky, bony legs, larger and slimmer heads, and glaring eyes will be great to apply to my sculpt to be instantly recognisable. Due to my inexperience with clay and reluctance in the medium, having these notable features will be helpful to guide me in the sculpt.

I find it pretty nifty that in my family's home we have some hare statues! I took photos from multiple angles for both kinds to understand how they're interestingly posed, how foreshortening occurs, and how the texture of the fur is created with small engravings. The vital benefit here is that I can go home every weekend and reflect on my sculpts development by observing the success of these ones.

Before we began drawing, we picked out multiple reference photos online to get printed and place on a reference board. I chose photos from multiple angles and lighting to decide what I want to replicate, ending up choosing the image on the right as my master reference - although I may change the lighting for a more interesting piece since this one is pretty neutral.

Alessandro Bandinelli (2019). Available at: ArtStation - Anatomy hare , accessed January 2026.

I also had other references on my phone different to photography, including muscle and skeleton diagrams so I can understand the inner workings of the hare and not just base my drawing off of what I see - having a note of skeletal and musculature builds will help me create the 3D form in sculpting after Christmas.

With my references ready, I got to work on a thumbnail sketch; my tutors commented on it feeling similar to the John Lewis mugs which felt quite complementary, I appreciate its whimsy! For the full sketch, I wanted to lengthen the body a little.

Next, I started marking the area for the big sketch - I measured the whole hare to be just over 4 heads tall and under 3 wide. I started with super primitive shapes to create the silhouette, followed by adding the limbs from shoulder muscles to arm/feet bones.

I was given a pointer the shrink the head a little and dial back the distortion on the bones so that it feels expressive still, but achieves realism.

With the sketch put down, I picked up my colour pencils; I had a general plan for how I'd approach this based on colours and lighting. To emulate the fur coat of the hare, I'd be using earthy tones like green and brown in conjunction with a warm orange as a base.

My general technique is to apply a base layer of orange and use that same colour to deepen tones where shadows will occur; from there, I start applying more accurate colours and layering each one to achieve a believable tone. I went in with a brown to start marking where deep areas of value would occur, such as the muzzle has naturally dark fur, along with an angle facing down from the light source.

I also added a subtle tinge of blue to the eye's reflection to show the clear skies surrounding this hare.

Dev Log Evaluation:

I feel pretty confident about my choice of animal given my range of references and even 3D references with the hare statues, although I didn't bring this piece very far within the lesson time. Colour pencils are a super exciting medium to me for their fluorescent colours and smooth application, giving the ability to blend a myriad of hues seamlessly and layer them thoughtfully. Although, it's a medium that takes time and patience - if you apply it in a reckless and scribbly manner, it will show. You can use this technique for stylistic reasons, but it's important to be conscious of your foundational application to get a strong piece, expressive pencil strokes come afterwards for texture.

Therefore, I will continue this piece in my own time. I want to do a draft version with altered lighting so I have a developed plan going into the final piece - the master reference has very neutral lighting which is great for an objective view, but I want to use lighting to reflect this animal's habitat as they can be found in forests, deserts, etc. and strong, warm sunlight will be a compelling inclusion to illuminate this subject and make their fur's colours pop. This also means I can play into cool-toned shadows for even more dynamic colouring!

Week 3

Observing Animal Skeletons - Anatomy Study:

Today, we have the task of drawing an animal skeleton from observation with the choice of a dog or cat; in the session's intro talk, we observed how the dog has lots of rigid form and sturdy stature, showcasing straight lines and square motifs a lot. Whereas, the cat has a sleek and curvy form, the spine flowing and arching strongly to give a naturally dynamic stance. I already love cats so with this added observation, I'd made my choice. I made sure to get an objective photo from my perspective and many smaller, zoomed in ones for good reference post-session.

Of course, the course of action was to start with a thumbnail which was a solid start. I marked it down pretty well, ensuring that the alternating limbs appeared on different planes to show their distance, and corrected a mistake I found independently which showed how I elongated the torso too much - foreshortening subtly occurs which brings the legs closer to the body as I observed the knees almost touching the ribcage from my angle. With this thumbnail, I felt confident enough to start my larger drawing.

During this lesson, we were introduced to concept of horizontals/verticals being used to find accurate placement of features. For example, drawing in the head and body as your foundation - to find the front leg, use your pencil to observe how its elbows align vertically with the start of the ribcage and horizontally with the chin. The paw aligns vertically with the collarbones and is furthest down from everything else, so can be used as a horizontal reference for the rest of the paws.

I was already familiar with this concept from college, where it was known as "plumb" lines so it felt natural to be using this method again. I believe it paid off, because this drawing already feels like it has depth without value.

Once we had a solid sketch, we were advised to render the skull first as the most detailed component to attain the correct value across the piece as we reference this area when we render other features, along with making the rest of the process less daunting since the hardest part is complete. Bones are relatively smooth and organic, so I didn't employ any specific rendering technique, aiming to keep it rather soft which shows its preservation in resin or wax.

The top left photo shows my independent progress on the skull, with the image below showing Teo's help and advice; an important point she made was to distinguish the planes of the orbital and muzzle, seeing as orbitals become concave and dip in, where the muzzle protrudes. She also adjusted the socket bones as they accommodate for the eyeballs, which felt more plausible than the obscured shadow I created. This also meant I wasn't locked into having to create a toned background, as hollow eyes with deep value behind them and a white background would break the immersion as it isn't consistent.

Dev Log Evaluation:

By the end of this session, I had a fully rendered skull and the basis for the rest of the body to be rendered. I likely could've done more, but as the last session before Christmas break I took it pretty easy; either way, this is a decent result that I shouldn't have much trouble completing. An important thing to remember is not to over-do the deepest values given the skeleton is a locally light object. At the same time, don't let it get too grey and muddy the values - I will be using my photos from class in a grayscale filter to find the deepest values and push those carefully to show a strong contrast, featuring depth from shadows and realism from the lightness of the object overall.

Finishing Skellybob:

I decided to work limb-by-limb for this piece as the value doesn't need to be built up necessarily, like in other objects. This is due to the light local value of bone, I don't want to overdo it by layering tone so I chose to etch fine detail in each area one-by-one.

It was important that I still include deep values in this piece despite the generally bright composition, so I reserved the darkest tones for the crevices and shadows as seen in the split part of the arm's bone.
I also still find myself struggling with using lines too much, so I made sure to erase my sketch enough to still use it as a guide, but only build up the drawing using tone to appear properly 3D.

Each rib was done with the deepest areas of contrast on the curves that show how shadows occur as the bone bends into a different direction, followed by the use of some aerial diffusion to imply the sternum and other half of the ribcage as to not muddy up this area and the definition of the foremost ribcage.

The spine has a unique, complex shape following a simple line so I approached this with shading in the shadowed parts I could observe when squinting, using mark-making to achieve the deepest areas, and erased highlighted areas, with the occasional line to imply the shape.

For some finishing touches, I used lines on areas closest to my viewpoint like the foremost shoulder blade, which will have high contrast thanks to its close proximity - I communicated this with some small, bold lines to define their shape. I also added some soft marks around the feet to show their contact shadow occurring, as I didn't aim to create an entire cast shadow for this piece.

Week 4

Creating Armatures:

In this session, we began working on our sole submission piece for the block - clay sculptures depicting an animal. Before we got straight to, we would create an armature which supports the base posture of our sculpt and eliminates the excess use of clay. It accounts for the body, limbs, head, and extra appendages if necessary (e.g, the ears of my hare).

Before we began, we were given paper references of our armatures that we'd be using to measure our wire and sculpt it in accordance.

Kras also showed me a neat technique to begin the head of my armature given the choice of a hare - I need to accommodate for the large ears as they can't stand up with clay alone and will need strong support. Therefore, he showed how I could create one loop for an ear, make another for the face, then end with a third loop for the other ear so these parts are strongly intertwined.

I made my own attempt at this method and started working on the front legs; with the technique I used, I was left with two long pieces of wire that I twisted at the neck to reinforce. Taking these two separate ends, I folded them in half and would begin to twist them to strengthen them too.

At this point, Teo came over for assistance to help with twisting and reinforcing everything; this task really isn't for those with weak hands. It takes strength I severely lack. Either way, we reached this result after she twisted the arms a little around the neck to shorten them a little. I then pushed them into position by widening the space between to accommodate for the clavicles, along with pushing the lower half back to demonstrate how hare legs bend.

At this point, I grabbed a new piece of wire to start working on the lower half of the body. I bent it in half and wrapped it around the neck to give me two wire ends, twisting those in accordance to the paper measurements, frequently checking their accuracy like shown in the photos. Once I'd twisted enough to give me the length of the back, I separated the two ends and bent those in half. Next, I melded them into the shape in the diagram, representing the extreme bend of hare legs.

This is how it looked once the legs were bent into shape and then twisted, giving me the entire body in armature form.

Some extra angles of the armature. I left loops on the paws so they could be bolted to the board.

Once leaving the wire stage, we were advised to pack these armatures using tinfoil to start as it bulks up the shape quickly without using much - it was important not to do overdo it as lots of animals like horses, deer, and hares have agile builds with incredibly thin limbs. If it's overpacked, I'd have to compensate with lots of clay use.

This is an example of overpacking your armature.. which I did... I was told it looks cool which at least softens the blow of having to redo it, but I didn't mind. I learnt how I needed to wrap it precisely with a small amount of bulk so I can properly apply volumes such as bone structure (face) and muscles (body).

Here's the rectified version, using my tinfoil much wiser with only necessary application and much tighter wrapping with masking tape. It only bulks the necessary support and not the entire form.

Finished Armature:

Dev Log Evaluation:

This lesson was such an unexpected joy, I felt a sense of pressure heading in because this was an unfamiliar realm of art to me. I'd dabbled in clay and creating armatures before but they were amateur and for fun. Although, it was incredibly fun to do despite the hand pains that the wire caused (twisting wire isn't for the weak (me)).

I'd even say I'm proud of the result, the appearance of the hare armature almost looks like a horror-based creature weakly resembling a hare despite something clearly being off, its extreme anatomy with flared ribs and malnourished limbs add to this idea. I'm rather entertained by this idea, but ultimately I'm glad it resembles a hare and is a strong start to the sculpting process.

Before I move into the clay stage, I need to ensure that the packing is airtight and secure, as any air bubbles can cause cracking in the clay which will damage my final result. Once the next lesson starts, I'll squeeze each area of the armature to prevent any air leaking in. It's also important that I familiarise myself with the anatomy of a hare - I have started this research with image gathering and preliminary sketches, but I can go further by observing the major muscle groups, general anatomy and skeletal form. This familiarisation will guarantee success in sculpting as I thoroughly understand the 3D form of what I'm creating.

Beth Cavener Artist Study:

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"Study for a Silent Hare" (2007)

"Kept" (2015)

"Subito Piano Forte" (2008)

Who is Beth Cavener?

Born in California in 1972, Beth Cavener Stichter was raised and taught principles of duality. Either parent imparted these facets of knowledge, the father educated her on science and molecular biology, while her mother taught her the art of sculpting with clay as an art teacher and experienced sculptor. Both influences impacted her life as she studied Science for most of her formative years in education, only switching to the pursuit of Fine Art education in her 3rd year of physics/astronomy at Haverford College after attending the Cecil Academy of Art. Beth herself honed her skills throughout her years returning to Cecil Studios and attending other apprenticeships and professional art courses. Once earning her BA in sculpture in 1995, she went on to spread her artistic influence and develop her identity as a professional sculptor, becoming a resident artist in multiple locations, earning her MFA at Ohio State University for ceramics, and finally opening her own studio in 2014 by the name of "Studio 740" to bolster the budding careers of amteur artists and mentor, proving her expertise in the field.

What is the Purpose of my Study?

Initially, I felt compelled to carry out this study due to Kras' mention of being reminded of her work when I worked on the colour pencil piece of my hare - once I looked into Cavener's website and portfolio, I had a guaranteed need to produce this. In sifting through her works, I was drawn by many elements that include the relevant use of clay which coincides with our current curriculum, her frequent depiction of hares, and ultimately her alluring ability to stylise realistic portrayals of animals in clay, in such an expressive manner that begs you to ponder the subtext of the piece.

Her Methods and Techniques:

In my research of Beth's upbringing and career as an artist, it was made known her incredible skill with the medium of clay and her ability to depict 3D form realistically with detail. However, this idea isn't carried through into her professional work which features a semi-stylised appearance with the use of dramatic gestures, use of clay to build unique fur textures, and the ability to create compelling expressions that emanate palpable emotion. Her method of creation consists of creating maquettes, essentially acting as 3D versions of thumbnail sketches, to optimise the composition, posing, and expressions of the subjects in the sculpt.

Once complete, she works with metal-rod armatures in large scale to sturdily uphold her sculpts that weigh up to 2000lbs in clay initially. Given her tendency to have animals suspended in animation or air, a sturdy base was necessary along with cutting down the clay's weight which she achieves through fragmenting the piece, hollowing each part out to 1/4th the weight, and then reassembling with epoxy and glue - this technique of creating lightweight sculpts permits her use of mid-air, dynamic poses.

Cavener's Unique Artistic Characteristics:

In terms of Cavener's distinct artistic identity and stylistic choices, the immediate feature is the stylised animals used in place of humans, as she felt the primal nature of animals in their wild, feral disposition allowed for much more expressive characters in her compositions with snarled fangs, cowering stances, and claws retracted or threatened are immediately more recognisable visually for displaying extreme emotions such as fear, anger, and other complex notions. She combined this with the moral dilemmas of intellectually convoluted humans - placing their experiences and conflicts into the primal bodies of animals, which is coincided in the transitional mix of features. The animals have paws, fur, and whiskers, but also belly buttons and human genitalia that advocates for the concept of these two beings intertwined, physically and mentally. I see it as a wise idea to give animals the physical manifestation due to their dynamic forms with bony legs, tufts of fur, and musculature promoting wilderness survival, but also for her ability to adapt styilisation to them. She uses large thumb strokes to create concave groups of fur and ultimately groups it in larger, sharp form with swaying motions as it follows the contour and flow of the sculpt to promote its composition.

Final Thoughts:

Considering all of this, I've learnt a great deal in how a professional sculptor uses knowledge of 3D form and adapts it to create emotionally provoking pieces with artistic intuition to break away from pure realism to enhance these forms and textures, leading one to admire the piece even further, both visually and thoughtfully. Although I'd love to dedicate my clay sculpture to an artist study of Beth's work I believe it's important I learn to create a realistic portrayal before branching out into stylised sculpts but I do feel observing her methods in producing unique artwork has assisted me in envisioning how I'll approach it. While I may utilise markmaking to depict the hare's short coat of fur, I may also use finger strokes to emulate the swaying tufts in the wind.

All artwork available at: https://followtheblackrabbit.com/portfolio/, accessed January 2026.

Week 5

Blockouts with Clay:

Starting this week, we began our work with clay. Our immediate goal was to just cover the armature with a tight layer of clay that we could build upon and add proper form to after.

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This photo demonstrates how I began the process of applying clay in a thin layer, using pressure to bind it to the armature's surface and prevent any air being trapped and causing cracks.

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After some time, I'd completed the first layer of clay - pretty smooth sailing as it's a task without thought.

From here, I began to build upon the foundation I created by considering musculature and volume. This started with bulking up the head, torso, especially back, and legs. Focus was placed on the back to really emphasize the hump that appears in a hare's traditional posture, bending to sit down properly. I wanted to capture that thoroughly in the silhouette.

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At this point, Kras came over to give feedback which mostly consisted of bulking the body up even more. This is evident in the underbelly being filled out properly to accommodate actual organs, giving some definition to the upper torso area around the scapula and reflect the idea of the muscle form in a hare's legs and shoulders, necessary for its large jumps.

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He also filled out the ears for me as this area can be rather difficult, given that they're relatively thin and fragile, although supported by the armature. Having this feature considered brought the likeness along further as a feature that could be exaggerated to really distinguish its species - without the towering ears, it wouldn't be a hare!

Dev Log Evaluation:

I feel that this was a strong start to the clay sculpting process, something I previously feared and felt apprehension going into. As an unfamiliar medium of art, these feelings made sense but the knowledge we've gained throughout this course really pushed me through this confidently.

Our studies of form and thinking in 3D helped me break down the anatomy of the hare, which I practiced in doing the colour pencil study and mini sketches which all contributed too. With my improved skills in understanding form and familiarity of hare anatomy, building up its simple form in clay was a breeze.

My goal for next session will be to complete filling out the body before I start working on fine detail and smaller anatomical components like paws, facial features, etc.

Developing the Coloured Hare Study:

Over Christmas, I didn't do much work at all but I did carry out some practice sketches of hares in preparation for the clay sculpting, along with the A3 hare drawing I started before Christmas. I felt a little hesitant to continue it, so I used a blend of alcohol markers and colour pencils to create a draft version in some sense - I aimed for it to represent the important colours and lighting most of all. In my previous blog work I explained how I want to depict that warm sunlight and its cast of cool shadows, all affecting the earthy tones of the hare's scratchy fur and the mix of warm/cool in the green grass surrounding unifies the whole piece. Ultimately, this gave me clarification and confidence to continue my work as I need to complete that artwork!

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In picking up the piece after weeks, I remembered Teo's advice of developing a concentrated area to establish detailed layer work. I used the warm yellow pencil I applied before for the base colour to deepen the tones, followed by a deeper maroon to darken the value of the brown areas of fur. Within this colour range, I applied a dark muted brown to finish off these dark areas of saturated fur.

In areas like the tips of the ears and the muzzle, I layered a warm brown topped with directional etchings in black to achieve the desaturated, darkened tips of fur. I also used this approach in areas of deep contrast like the eyes, nostrils, and mouth to set the underlayer as something warm, and finish it off with a jet black to achieve the darkest tones in the piece. To finish off the eyes, I added a bright orange with a small layer of red to depict the shadowed areas of the iris, followed by a subtle addition of bright blue in the reflection of the pupils to communicate the clear skies reflected in the hare's gaze.

Take a minute to appreciate the glow up..

I reused the blue pencil in conjunction with silver to layer up the white areas of fur, affected by the blue skies and built in tone with grey to show how its shadows are muted unlike the brown fur. I used a gold pencil, similar to the silver but a little warmer, as its metallic properties allowed for a very subtle hue that worked perfectly for a neutral tone to cover the drawing. I applied it in areas such as the inner areas, the eyelid, and cheeks to bring the piece together cohesively and apply an impression of shadows in plane changes.

With the face complete, I began working on the fur - starting with the tuft on his chest as the largest area of shadows that requires the most attention. I began by layering a warm sienna brown on top of the orange to build the initial tone before adding detail. From here, I squinted at my reference to identify the large chunks of shadow caused by the fur separations, keeping in mind the direction of the fur and built up these shapes with the same sienna brown, using a little more pressure. After this, I deepened these layers with a tuscan red to enhance the warmth of the fur on the body which is less varied than the face in colour; for the final defining touches, I used the darkest brown I had to fill in small crevices with the deepest value I could identify on the photo. Finally, I built a gradient at the bottom to show where the front legs will overshadow it.

Week 6

Refining the Form:

With my block out complete and a vague layer of clay applied, I was able to begin working on the secondary form that defines a hare's silhouette such as their curved backs, strong legs, and bold tuft of fur on their chest.

I was advised to place chunks of clay onto the sculpt and shave away to get the right, distinct form rather than building it up gradually for an amorphous blob. With that said, I started with the chest, giving me the vague shape of the protruding chest fur that contrasts the slender, toned legs. This was followed up by some more clay added to the underbelly to support a ribcage, and some extra underhanging fur. Finally, I bulked up the back and neck, to build up to the head.

With the head, I cut-out the shape of the brow bone as the strongest shape on the hare's face other than the muzzle which is already accounted for; I flattened out the middle slightly to give distinction between the eyes and showcase how the sockets are exaggerated and pushed outwards, giving the hares the ability to look either side of them. I hollowed out where the eyeballs would be placed and used my nails to push in the mouth area, allowing for the nose to upturn slightly.

I started to add some eyeballs with small chunks of clay, but I realised I'd positioned them too close together which made the face appear humanoid, and Teo came over to help as I was trying to rectify it; she showed me how I could shift it into the right place and then use a toothpick to etch out the fine details and achieve contrast with the sculpt, creating dramatic edges, an impression of fur and even a cool trick of hollowing out part of the eye to suggest lighting.

Dev Log Evaluation:

At the end of the session, I had a fully defined body with muscle consideration and a block out of fur (and some paws I forgot about). Given that next session is our final one, I would need to bring it to completion so I must understand what's left to do. I believe my goals are to finish the other half of the face, bring definition to the mouth, add a tail, and then start texturing and creating the impression of fur. If I have the time, perhaps I could add some blades of grass and patchy rocks to suggest a gravel path the hare is on, running between two expansive fields!

Week 7

Completing the Hare Study:

For a while, I had neglected this study and left it to do other work, but I brought it to class and received feedback to definitely finish it. I think that I neglected it because there was less pressure to complete it as it's only part of the blog grade, but hearing my lecturers encourage me to finish it gave me the motivation I needed, since I did want to bring this study to fruition!

At this stage, I had a fully coloured head and chest, so I felt the best place to continue would be the limbs thanks to their thin nature with ease of filling in quickly, starting with the orange/yellow base built up with a warm brown to establish deeper tones.

I began to introduce some properly saturated tones like a bright orange to indicate the major area where the radiant sunlight is hitting the hare at this transitional point of the arm/shoulder which is why the chest hair darker and more brown. I also started to build up the tummy's tone as it features white fur obscured in shadow. Due to this, I built it up with a combination of red, green, and blue to establish the initial tone.

I blended this area in with my usual colours like brown and orange with deep, desaturated brass tones too, so it didn't appear too different in hue to the rest of the piece.

From here, I began working on the leg and thigh area which featured great contrast in the light beiges of the protruding leg bone, and the concave area which is mostly skin that causes the fur to go inwards and be cast in shadow.

Next, I repeated the same process as the block of fur on the chest on the thigh and back in a more freeform fashion as these areas of fur have less uniform direction, building it up with a bright orange base, followed by some earthy browns and reds.

At this point, I felt the piece was almost complete but it appeared a little disconnected in some areas; I reflected upon this by taking time away from the drawing and returning to spot how the bright white areas of highlight were too jarring and needed to be unified. I fixed this issue by filling in these areas with a beige tone since the fur is rather coarse and rough, and wouldn't reflect so heavily.

At this point, I brought the piece in for a last round of feedback, and my peer advised me on deepening the contact shadow so the ground felt a little more legible and the hare felt plausibly placed in this rough environment which I worked on by just developing the environmental aspect a little more since that was something of an afterthought anyway, at that point.

My lecturers suggested filling in the background a little more, and it didn't need to be incredibly detailed or specific, just an abstract impression to suggest an idea of this hare's habitat without too much time investment, which I achieved by building up the green tones I'd started to establish already. I developed them to the point they looked roughly like grass tufts. I also was advised to deepen the tone of the belly since my goal of reaching an obscured white tone caused the values to be off, I'd deepened the tone greatly towards the end of the chest but it's not consistent when you reach the belly so I added some dark browns and a tinge of black to unify this area, especially since it would be the darkest area on the hare itself.

For some finishing touches, I added some whiskers using my dark brown and black pencil, and a bit of white ink, and was finally complete!

Finalising the Clay Sculpt:

With our final session of traditional art for this block, I focused solely on completing the clay sculpture and adding all the necessary final details which included finishing the face, adding detail and a bit of bulk to the ears, bulking up the thighs, carving out the paws, adding fur texture throughout the whole body, and adding larger impressions of fur.

This is the state of the sculpt before my work today, which was individually developed area-by-area, so gradual progress shots didn't really benefit me today. Therefore, I took closeup photos of each area I developed to explain their purpose and placement.

For the ears, they were appearing pretty thin which physically wouldn't work as hares need a decent amount of muscle mass to move their ears and hear from many angles. Therefore, I bulked them up with some clay, smoothed it out and used a toothpick to etch out the inner ears, using it again to give an impression of fur growing outwards from this concave area.

I made sure to bulk up the stomach greatly before working on the fur of this area, given the way it falls down based on gravity slightly, and is placed in addition to where the organs are packed, so I had to ensure there was decent mass to work with. To get a slight impression of separated fur, I used a carving tool to cut out some sections, and follow it up with the rake tool for the texture of the falling fur, which helped indicate its direction as it falls down.

One of the main goals for me today was to finish the other side of the face as Teo previously showed me how to carve in detail and contrast using the toothpick, which I developed upon and completed the first side in the previous lesson. However the other side was left undone, so I was advised to take a photo of the finished side, flip it and replicate it, keeping angles in mind and making sure the eyes were still decently separated to indicate their status as a prey animal.

I was also given feedback on ensuring the symmetry was relatively correct so the sculpt didn't appear overly wonky, which I achieved by adding to the left side's brow bone. This photo shows my own attempt at completing the other side of the face as I didn't get a photo of the side I independently completed... but this photo demonstrates how I worked on achieving the hare's likeness by adding clay to the nose ridge and smoothing it out to achieve the somewhat outwardly curved profile that hares inhabit.

An important area to complete would be the chest fur, as the fluffiest area that holds the most visibility on the hare. I believe working on the drawing of the hare not long before this influenced the appearance of the chest fur as it appears to be separated in strong, distinct tufts with smaller hairs within these areas. I achieved this by keeping in mind the direction and flow of the fur, adding gradual chunks and carving away at them to get the correct shape, followed by using a toothpick and the rake tool to achieve the look of those finer hairs and further imply direction within them.

I had a consistent problem throughout the sessions where the calf areas kept cracking; since this didn't occur anywhere else, I don't believe it was an issue of trapped air but tension where the armature was pulling away from the feet bolted to the board. A good amount of clay would be necessary to fix this, but I wanted to maintain the slender appearance of the limbs that create such an interest contrast in shapes of the silhouette so I rectified this by adding fur to the limbs just before the paws. This helped to make the thicker fur on the chest feel more cohesive throughout the whole sculpt and fixed the cracking issue too!

The final touch was adding the little tail, which I achieved by sculpting individually with a small chunk of clay, carved out with a tool and refined with a toothpick. To securely append it to the body, I slightly wet the back end of the hare, using the toothpick to cross-hatch, followed by the same process on the stub of the tail, and then attaching the two, smoothing out the edges so it was properly blended and binded to the body.

Final Outcome:

Left: Colour Pencil Hare Study, Above: Cat Skeleton Pencil Observation

Post Mortem:

This project has been a great deal of fun for me, drawing animals and creatures will always be something to enjoy based on my preferences so I was super eager for every lesson of trad; I believe drawing animals isn't something that comes naturally but it's enjoyable regardless thanks to the wide variety of bone structure and anatomy, interesting features like fur, ears, horns, etc. I also knew going into this block that the experience would be unlike usual, due to the different grading system with just one large submission piece, and the other two counting towards blogwork but I made a point to myself to not let that discourage me from bringing the paper submission pieces to proper fruition of my usual standard.

I believe I did succeed in terms of time management this time around, and I'm generally improving on that as I progress in traditional art - it's generally something I never leave til last. This is likely because I find it easy to do as a familiar medium to me, along with it being a break from screens which I always find refreshing when I want to be productive without getting a headache. Overall though, I had a really fun time working on each submission piece and despite my reluctance in working with clay, I had a great time and excelled my own expectations. I believe I effectively sculpted the anatomy of a hare and produced its likeness closely which was a success by proxy as I'd done smaller studies and drawings, along with the bigger colour pencil study. Speaking of, I think I succeeded in this piece! I felt pretty nervous as I wanted to use colour pencils for a submission piece but had never used them on such a large scale or with such intricate detail, but I believe I did a good job in layering colours to achieve accurate tones and made reasonable choices in any independent decisions, such as my independent background which had cooler tones to bring emphasis towards the hare, while also using a slightly warmer, more olive shade of green which features warm hues so that it's still cohesive with the entire piece. Along with achieving accurate form, I did better than I expected in sculpting fur. Hares aren't overly fluffy like creatures such as rabbits or wolves, which gave me a simpler time as they have less fur overall but I did still have to tackle it in some aspects, making good use of the provided tools to carve form and etch details.

Some areas could've still been improved, and the first point for me was to polish the sculpt a little more. While I did want to communicate the coarse and rough nature of a hare's fur, I don't think some of the etchings were necessary and almost appear excessive in some areas like the stomach in my opinion. In the final session, I did get feedback to add more tufts of fur all around as my final step before finishing the sculpt, which I did carry out; however, I believe I should've leant more into this as some areas appear almost smooth and needed more attention. I also feel as though I didn't pay enough attention to the cat skeleton study - this piece was relatively quick to complete due to a lack of much area to cover or render, and I did aim to be delicate in applying tone to maintain the light local value of the bone but I believe it ended up too delicate. I made sure to add contrast and made very small areas dark, but I still had to up the contrast in the photo so that the piece didn't look underwhelming. Finally, the environment surrounding the hare in the colour pencil drawing could've received a lot more intricate attention. I knew from the start I didn't want to go overboard on the background, but the result is just a little too simplistic for my liking. I believe if I want to improve upon this next time, I will start applying a background gradually, instead of adding it at the very end when the subject is fully rendered so it doesn't feel out of place and I have decent time to work on it.

Overall, I had a super great time in traditional art this block and look forward to continuing with creature/character based art, and hope to continue using colour pencils to build my skillset with those. I would perhaps like to branch out my range of mediums as well, using alcohol markers if possible. I also had a great time using clay despite my hesitance, and have felt myself wanting to do more projects in clay including other animals with more dynamic poses too. I have seen human busts sculpted with clay in the building so it'll be exciting if we get to tackle that!!

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