Steven Powers (SMP): Madison and Marverick

Madison and Marverick

Madison and Maverick 


It has been a long time this year between posts. I moved our family half way across the country from Connecticut to Texas.  We all heard how time consuming that moving is, well that's just the start of it.
In regards to art, I have spent most of my limited amount of time working in a 4x6 sketchbook with a 5mil Pentel mechanical pencil.  I did get a lot of nice character sketches and ideas down and I believe I improved in my pencil work.  The highlight of those I will post shortly, but for now above is a rendering of my niece and her horse.  She found out that I was working on it for her Christmas present so I had no choice but to complete it on time.  With my wife's patience I was able to spend the day before Christmas Eve creating this picture, while she slaved at baking and cooking for Christmas.

I approached this starting digitally.  I was given a photo for reference and then used Photoshop to workout the composition and frame size.  Once those decisions were made, I used a grid to work out the proportions especially in the hands, the faces and eyes. I don't normally use grids, but since I was under the gun and didn't take the time to do preliminary sketches to get familiar with the subjects (which is actually very fun and relaxing) I had to use the available resources to obtain a desirable result.

This was the first portrait that I did all year.  I framed it in an 11x14 with a 8x10 cream colored matte to enhance the tone of the pencils.  She loved it and I hope that you enjoy as well.

-Steve

4 comments:

  1. Fresh content! This post is essentially excellent, in term of learning to update your skills.

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  2. Replies
    1. Thank you. She really enjoyed getting it as a gift. The smile was well worth it.

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