Eye to Eye

[Meisie]

I liked the title Joemajury @ WC gave his picture of this crow. :)
Dip pen and India Ink...quite a bit to go.

C&C welcome

Meisie

[Norma69]

Meisie - this is coming along fine - real fine, but what the heck is dip pen?
Waiting to see more.

Will you be ready to order Monday? - I am willing to have it sent here and then deliver or meet at Rutherford - pm me :D

Norma

[CindyH]

Wow, you're on a roll, Meisie :D I like this...I have the same question as Norma...what is dip pen?

[Arlene]

i think a dip pen is the old fashioned pen you dip into the ink first to draw or write. did i get it right Meisie? he looks great. I must say your work keeps getting better and better, and it was good to start with! :)

[Meisie]

Yip! Arlene is right...I finally got some new ones (the old nibs were toast) and HAD to try 'em....you all know the feeling :rolleyes:

Thanks for the encouragement ladies....:D

Norma I clean forgot....I'm so sorry. YES! I'll pm you by Sunday ok? I will need to make a trip up to QB again too...we'll see what the schedules are like when it comes 'k?

Arlene, thank you! It is knowing that I'm going to get constructive comments that makes me work and work carefully and with the intent to improve.

Meisie

[lene]

Hi meisie
it looks great :clap:

[Meisie]

Thanks Lene :)

Meisie

[Norma69]

Meisie - no problem - have sent you an email

Do you use the "dip pen" with india ink or other colors?

Norma

[Meisie]

Only with India Ink Norma, I don't like the idea that inks are not lightfast at all, so if I want to add colour, I go for watercolours. Bottled coloured ink to my mind, is only good for work that'll be reproduced. (I'm not including Micron's coloured ink pens in this general satement...I'm referring to the bottled inks only) Sepia may be an exception here, not sure how lightfast that is. Too long since I've drawn with sepia ink! :(

Meisie

[Brenda]

Amazing, Meisie! Those feathers are just great. Doesn't seem to matter what you try your hand at, you're just good!

[Meisie]

Gosh Brenda :blushing: Thank you! :blushing: :blushing:

Meisie :)

[Dave.R]

This is great Meisie...it has such character:clap:

[llodercpart]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh I just love ink work.

I bet lots of colored pencilists started out with ink. It is so precise and so intense. I used to make Christmas cards for friends and family with india ink and a quill dip pen in stipple. It was when I didn't have lots of friends!! LOL
It was a lot of fun though.

Yours is beautiful. I can't wait to see him as he comes along.

Linda

[Meisie]

Thank you Dave and Linda! My fingers are itching for a pure graphite or graphite and cp/wc mix!! ;)

Meisie

[beth]

Holy cow, his gaze is piercing! Nice contrasts with that ink, Meisie. Well done!

Hope you do a graphite or mix...I can't wait!

[Rose]

Meisie,

Great stuff! I have always admired pen and ink... the name Claudia Nice comes to mind. I have some of her books on drawing in ink...you are using a lot of the techniques, cross hatch, stippling,... wow, the feathers are wonderful. If I weren't so darned committed to colored pencil now that I have bought out the store, I'd get back into pen and ink... those fine point pens on smooth paper are so wonderful.

Ok, rambling here.. LOL... I love this drawing!

[Denise]

He's awesome looking, Meisie!

I like the old fashioned nibs, too;)

[Greg]

This really looks good Meisie. I don't know the first thing about old fashioned nibs, but I sure like this!! :clap: :clap: :clap:

[Meisie]

Thank you folks!!

Beth, don't you just love that cold stare of his ;)

Rose a little ink make the cp go down...or something like that?!?!?! :rolleyes:

Denise I like mechanical pens, especially for stippling but find myself reaching for nibs with character more often than not....

Greg you cannot be THAT young :eek: Denise had better introduce you to them in a future lesson :D

Meisie

[lucky]

Wow! What an impressive presence!

Crows are so much fun to watch. Where I went to college, there were always tons of them, and they were really big. The way they walk and squak and jump around is so entertaining! Once a bunch of them ate through a friends VW Bug soft top to get to some food she had in her car. he he! :o

This is so beautiful Meisie! I really like the technique you are using for it!

~lucky

[Meisie]

Lucky, thank you! and I agree, they have so much character :)

I've worked a little on him and then I made a copy as I was not sure that my bg plan is the best...so I did some work on the bg (on the copy) any ideas? I thought maybe I should go darker on his shoulder (our left) and the lower right corner, but maybe keep the areas around his eyes lighter. Does that sound like a good plan?

C&C please
TIA

Meisie

I like his blotchy chest feathers -done like that on purpose- it show less so on the copied version, which confirmed to me that my blotchy one works...feedback on that? Do you agree? not?

[CindyH]

Yes, I agree with you...I like the blotchy chest feathers.
Your background sounds like a good plan....I like the cross-hatching effect..this is going to be a really great piece!

[Rose]

Meisie,

Really great feathers and I also like the blotchy look... I think you're onto something with the background too! I would call it finished, but that's me! :-)

[Meisie]

Thank you for the feedback and votes of confidence :)

I was wondering if more variation in the bg would not work better. As if there is a tree or something behind? But definately cross hatched as it is a contrast to the technique used on the bird....
My concern is that his eyes are not prominenet enough here...I'll have to try another copy version ;) and see which is best....I'll post again when I have that ready.

Meisie

[lucky]

Yep I like the chest feathers too, lots of depth the way you did them! I always think of crows being more on the ground than in trees... maybe that's weird.. What a cool idea of copying the pic, and experimenting with dif. backgrounds! The cross hatching is nice, and I like the diagonals.

[Meisie]

Thanks Lucky...you're right! One does, most often, tend to see crows on the ground and on park benches ;)

I made another copy (so glad I thought of that idea! :) ) and here I changed the eyes...what looked like lids was just the way the light was reflected and I'm not sure I like that...

then I also darkened the white feathers in the lower left corner.

Lastly I darkened his head, which is black feathers but full in the light, I think I will have to leave some ligter areas there though. It is too uniform now, not?

I like the way the bg works here and think it is enough to ground him without interfering.

C & C most welcome, please

Meisie

[beth]

This just keeps getting better. I love the cross-hatched background.

[Rose]

I agree with Beth, this is getting better! I like the bright white on the right side... nice touch...

[Meisie]

aha! looks like I might be getting somewhere then? That is good news! Thanks Beth and Rose! Beth I love crosshatching :D

Meisie

[Toni]

why meisie dear... look what you've been up to!

Old fashioned nibs are the only way to go! Uhhh I did have a bottle of black india ink poured over my drawing table and onto the carpet long ago........ children you know :( , that was before my days of CP! ;)


Love the sepia, the chest feathers are wonderful. Glad you caught the reflection of the sky in his eyes, now they look much more intense. I'm not sure how I like the gradiation from the wash to the stippled feathers as it it though, but I'm gunna keep watchin to see how he comes out :D

TJ

[Denise]

He's looking wonderful, Meisie!

When I first moved to Oklahoma, I was TERRIFIED by the gigantic crows here! Made me think of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds:eek: :eek: ....some of these birds have to be at least 2 feet tall and scary looking....I have crossed the street to avoid walking close to where one was standing in the grass.:o

[Meisie]

Toni...I've been a doodlin! ;) and having enormous fun...one should always remember to do those little things that give you immense pleasure, while working hard at the more difficult things :D

Glad you like it....I was very glad to have laminate floor in my studio area when I spilled great blobs of ink the other day! :eek: would have been an absolute disaster on carpet (as it is the carpet cleaner guy couldn't get my spilled coffee stain out of the carpet today...what can I say? It was a full latte mug....sigh...) :rolleyes:

I wonder if the bit that bothers you is the bit that bothers me? I'm going to post the ref here (Joemajury's @ WC) so what I have is the white feathers, changing into black ones (so wonderfully blue-black here) as well as the shadows coming in to give roundness to his body. That is the next place of 'attack', now I have the eyes, head and bg figured out....are we talking about the same area?


Thanks Denise! I love watching crows....and even more so the big Ravens we have here. They have so much character. Watching their courtship flight is breathtaking!!

Meisie....

don't get me started on birds.....;)

[Bill C]

this is so cool Meise! I haven't done pen and ink in a loooooong time, lol. I've attached a pict showing the minor problems I see, mainly the shape of his head and his left eye. I've also attached an attempt at modifying yours in PS.

[Meisie]

Thanks Bill! I think I see what you mean! Boy am I ever glad I have the original still 'original' ;)

Meisie

[lucky]

Hi Meisie, the cross hatching, the diagonal, everything you've done is really perfect. The background has him really popping now! I like it very very much!!!

[Toni]

I was very glad to have laminate floor in my studio area when I spilled great blobs of ink the other day! would have been an absolute disaster on carpet (as it is the carpet cleaner guy couldn't get my spilled coffee stain out of the carpet today...what can I say? It was a full latte mug....sigh...)

LOL!!! Hmmmmm ya know... ink would soak right into my floor today too, hmmm me thinks your laminate floor might be the way to go next time around!

Bill pointed out some good points, and the more I look at him the more I think you just need to work on the values. The same as we did before with the baby, look for subtle differences in the wing, and where it rolls over to the chest. Make sure you don't cover up those pretty highlights.

keep going! I'm still watchin :D

TJ

[runninhorsegal]

Great work! but I have never seen a Crow or a Raven with any white on them! Could this be a Magpie? :confused:

Still is great work, tho!

[lovingspots]

Inquiring minds had to know. I asked my bird friend about whether crows or ravens have white on them. He said that Crows, ravens, magpies, bluejays all are in the family of corvidae and that it may be some kind of pigeon or magpie. The only crows he knows with white like that are in Africa. He did offer this information for you Denise...

Many, perhaps most, people who witness large roosts or the flight lines to them are reminded of Alfred Hitchcock's movie "The Birds." I think this association is unfortunate. It makes the allusion that somehow what we are watching is sinister, unnatural, and threatening. In fact, it is none of the above, but one of the most natural things in the world. I would prefer to replace this association with the idea that such roosts are something to be marveled at. To me they always bring up the idea of Passenger Pigeons. When Europeans first came to North America, the Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) was the most abundant bird on earth. Migrating flocks were said to darken the sky for hours as they passed. Despite their incredible abundance, they are completely gone now, driven extinct by the early years of the 20th century. A combination of habitat destruction (the complete devastation of the eastern hardwood forests) and hunting for sale as meat in commercial markets destroyed one of the greatest natural spectacles on earth. Not a single Passenger Pigeon remains on earth today, nor do any people that remember seeing their massive flocks. I would like for people to look at the large congregations of the similarly-sized American Crows going to roost and think that, despite how impressive they might be, they are but the slightest hint of what the Passenger Pigeon flocks must have been like.

Regardless of what it is, I love the artwork!!!

[Meisie]

Thanks for bearing with me folks ! :)

Lovingspots that is very interesting (sad about the pigeon part :( ) I think I must have thought 'crow' because coming from Africa, I may have known them there? But 'Magpie' is I think, the answer.

My google search leads me to believe it could be a black billed magpie
http://aviary.owls.com/magpie/magpie.html
This one certainly fits the colouration of the ref. And the photographer is from N.Ireland.
http://www.haworth-village.org.uk/nature/pictures/large-insects.asp?pic=44

Here is an update. This is the original, I've changed the eyes (need to work on the highlights I think) added the bg and then detail on the white chest feathers. I think I need to work on the values of the darker feathers on the wing next, as they seem to read the same as the chest at the moment.

C & C welcome please!

Meisie

[Meisie]

I think he's done...will put him away and take a final look in a bit to do last tweaking. :)

Meisie