Throw Back Thursday - Payton, 2011

Payton is the daughter of a wonderful couple we met while in Italy. They are one of those couples you meet and like immediately. Sadly, though, they were on their way out and we had just arrived.

As a going away present, I drew portraits of their kiddos. Actually, I originally set out to illustrate a children's book with their three kids as the main characters. (Cooper, Zeke, and Payton are all so animated that it was easy to see they'd make good illustrations.) But like most  of my well-intended, super-inspired, large projects, I couldn't find the time to complete it, and had to settle for less. Boo.

I'm happy to say, however, that I have not given up! Just last October I drew another portion of the book--a series of giraffes making faces. Maybe that'll be next weeks TBT, along with the poem. Something to look forward to, no?


The process for these drawings was as follows:

• Draw initial sketch with a 4H graphite pencil--to make sure it's really light.
• Find the lines I want and draw over them using 2B or 4B.
• With a piece of tracing paper, transfer the drawing into a clean sheet of bristol paper.
• Check my pens to see which are working most consistently (it's a huge bummer to have to change pens in the middle of a drawing, especially if you don't have another if the same size).
• Choose appropriate pens/sizes for drawing. I chose a heavier brush tipped pen for the thick lines, a  thick 08 micron pend, and a thinner 01 or 005 micron (i don't recall) for the finer details.
• I started with the brush tip pen and drew most of the outlines.
• Then I went in with the finer tips and did the cross hatching, shading, and details.

I think Payton's turned out particularly well.