Setting up for a painting can be daunting and I often wonder how someone else might go about it! So today and totally randomnly I decided to take snapshots of my process and share it with you.

I am on a mission to paint a Brahman Bull that I saw in a paddock a few weeks ago. He was such a beautiful beast, ginormous I thought, but gentle at the same time. I observed him for a little while, but all I could really do was take some snaps with my trusty phone.

So, now I have two photos that I would like to work from.

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I’ll be using the head from the first and the body from the second. With my 4B graphite stick I proceeded to start sketching in my A3 sketch book, although I often find it easier to sketch on A4. Having too much on my mind, I didn’t realise how awkwardly I was sitting to my drawing, creating a much wider angle between the drawing surface and my viewing point. Ideally it should be about 90 degrees, or in other words straight on. Hence my wacky first attempt. (1). In fact I only noticed how distorted it was, after taking a photograph. Quick snap shots often quickly reveal any flaws!

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After studying my flaws in sketch one, I made some adjustments, bringing me to Sketch 2. At this point I smeared the graphite with a tissue to get a medium tone. Sketch 3.

In Sketch 4 I began to lift out some highlights with my kneadable eraser, then added some darker shadows as shown in Sketch 5.

The whole sketch still needs some refinements and these will happen when I transfer this drawing to my watercolour paper.

If you have enjoyed this exercise or would like to comment with a question or a statement, please feel free to do so, and I will gladly reply.