Home ...  Paintings For Sale ...  Wildlife ...  Friesian Horses ...  Other Horses ...  Pets & Livestock
People ...  Commissions ...  Nature's Beauty ...  Logos & Websites ...  Price List ...  How is it Done?
Photographing Your Pet ...  About Me ...  Jigsaw Puzzles ... 

WOLF IN SNOW
I could just feel the cold when I saw this photo of a wolf in a Wolf Park curled up in the snow. Something had caught his attention, and I loved the alert look on his face.

I chose to use scraperboard for the illustration. This is a board coated in ink, into which you scratch out the image using a tool, creating a black and white illustration. So you effectively work in reverse - you leave the darks alone, and work on the highlights to create your picture. I used a fibre brush for this illustration, as it's ideal for giving the effect of fur.

I start mapping out the areas of the highlights on the wolf, using short strokes in the direction of the fur. It's important to keep a light touch in the early stages of scraperboard - mistakes are hard to correct.

As is usuallly my habit, I focus early on the part of the painting that is, for me, the most interesting and difficult area - the face. If that doesn't work, there's no point continuing with the illustration.

Here is a close-up of the head area. It takes many tiny strokes to build up texture and tone on scraperbard. The photo doesn't quite show some of the texture in the whiter areas.

I've started to develop more of the fur on the body. The photo is of a wolf in an enclosure, but I've decided my wolf will be outside in the wild. So the background will change from wire mesh, to a snowbank. I've started to detail some branches behind the head.

Now there is some snow in the foreground, and much more of the wolf's body. This is as far as I've gotten with this illustration. I'll add the next and final stage to this page when it's done. Thanks for visiting.