OF A DOG Brenda Hoddinott I-03 INTERMEDIATE: CARTOONS & CRITTERS This simple project, features an eye of Shadow the Dalmatian, and is drawn completely freehand. After sketching the outlines, you add different values with help from four different grades of pencils, 2H, HB, 4B, and 6B. Throughout the lesson, I discuss the process of rendering a simplified drawing from a detailed photograph. The key to simplifying a drawing when working from a photograph is to make sure you are very familiar with the visual structure of your subject. Artists often become frustrated and overwhelmed by too much visual information when trying to visually simplify a complex image and subsequently draw it accurately. “Eye of a Dog” is divided into the following three sections: THE PARTS OF A DOG’S EYE: To draw a dog’s eye correctly, you first need to find out as much as possible about its various parts. ESTABLISHING DOG EYE PROPORTIONS: Drawing Shadow’s eye enhances your visual abilities, by exercising your freehand drawing skills. In this section, your goal is to sketch her eye proportionately correct. BRINGING THE EYE TO LIFE WITH SHADING: Gather your drawing pencils and prepare to add shading to Shadow’s eye. In addition to its basic triangular shape, a realistic dog’s eye drawn from this angle, needs to illustrate its three dimensional forms as defined by a light source, in this case from the right. Suggested drawing supplies include good quality white drawing paper, 2H, HB, 4B, and 6B graphite pencils, kneaded and vinyl erasers, and a pencil sharpener. This project is recommended for fine art educators, and artists from age 12 to adult with limited drawing skills. 10 PAGES – 15 ILLUSTRATIONS Published by Hoddinott Fine Art Publishers, Halifax, NS, Canada – 2004 (Revised 2006) Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com - 2 - ILLUSTRATION 03-01 ILLUSTRATION 03-02 THE PARTS OF A DOG’S EYE Artists often become overwhelmed by too much visual information when trying to simplify a complex image. The drawing in this project is based on this photograph of the eye of a Dalmatian named Shadow. Observe that the iris, pupil, and two tiny segments of the white of the eye take up most of the visible sections. In order to draw a dog’s eye correctly, you first need to find out as much as possible about its various parts. Refer to the drawing below, and identify each of the following. 1. Iris: the large circular shape that varies in value from very light to very dark. Tiny muscles in the iris radiate outward from the pupil to help it open and close. In profile, the eyeball is not a perfect sphere; the cornea of the iris bulges slightly outward. 2. White of the Eye: the primary section of the eyeball. The white of the eye is generally rendered with light to medium values. 3. Outer Corner: the outermost section of the eye. 4. Upper Eyelid: a movable fold of skin that opens and closes to protect the eyeball. 5. Highlight: a bright spot(s) or section(s) where light bounces off the shiny surface of the eye. 6. Pupil: the dark circle inside the iris often has the darkest values of the entire drawing. The pupil of an eye is similar to the aperture in the lens of a camera; it opens and closes, as the levels of light become brighter or darker. 7. Inner corner: a small triangular shape in the inside corner of the eye. 8. Lower eyelid: a fold of skin protecting the lower section of the eyeball. Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com - 3 - ESTABLISHING DOG EYE PROPORTIONS Drawing Shadow’s eye enhances your visual abilities, by exercising your freehand drawing skills. In this first section, your goal is to sketch her eye proportionately correct. Proportion is the relationship in size of one component of a drawing to another or others. 1) Use slightly curved lines to draw a triangular shape with rounded corners. Examine the next three step-by-step drawings. Curved lines are created when a straight line curves (or bends). Shape refers to the outward outline of a form. Basic shapes include circles, squares and triangles. ILLUSTRATION 03-03 ILLUSTRATION 03-04 ILLUSTRATION 03-05 Use an HB pencil, and keep your lines very light so they can be easily erased. Pay close attention to the lengths, angles, and curves of the various lines. For example, take note that the lower line is more rounded than the other two and the curved line on the right is shorter than the others. Constantly double check the proportions of your sketch as you work your way through this project, and modify if needed. Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com - 4 - ILLUSTRATION 03-06 2) Add another curved line inside the triangular shape. Take note of the points where the line intersects two sides of the triangular shape. Also, this line is more curved at the top. ILLUSTRATION 03-07 3) Add two more curved lines to represent the outline of the iris of the eye. Refer to Illustrations 03-07 and 03- 08. ILLUSTRATION 03-08 While these two curved lines outline a segment of a round shape, the upper and lower sections appear to be under the dog’s eyelids. Turn your drawing around in various directions, and view it from different perspectives, to double check that the iris looks like a round shape. Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com - 5 - ILLUSTRATION 03-09 4) Outline a highlight in the upper right section of the iris. The light source is from the right. Light source refers to the direction from which a dominant light originates. The light source tells you where to draw all the light values and shadows. In the interest of originality, feel free to make your highlight an oval, circle shape, or even a curved teardrop- shape. ILLUSTRATION 03-10 5) Draw a circular shape inside the iris as the pupil. The pupil is quite small when compared to the iris. Take note that the highlight appears to overlap the pupil. Also, because of the angle of the eye, the pupil is drawn closer to the right of the iris than the left. Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com - 6 - ILLUSTRATION 03-11 BRINGING THE EYE TO LIFE WITH SHADING Gather your drawing pencils and prepare to add shading to Shadow’s eye. Shading refers to the various shades of gray (values) in a drawing that make drawings look three-dimensional. Values are the different shades of gray created when you draw by varying both the density of the shading lines, and the pressure used in holding various pencils. In addition to its basic triangular shape, a realistic dog’s eye drawn from this angle, needs to illustrate its three dimensional forms as defined by a light source, in this case from the right. Form, as applied to drawing, is the illusion of the three-dimensional structure of a shape, such as a circle, square or triangle, created in a drawing with shading and/or perspective. 6) Add light values to the visible section of the white of the eye on the right. Use hatching lines and a 2H pencil and try to have your shading lines all going in the same direction. Hatching is a series of lines (called a set) drawn closely together to give the illusion of values. In my drawing the lines are all angled upward to the right. 7) Use a 2H pencil to add light values to the iris. Take note that the highlight and pupil are left white. ILLUSTRATION 03-12 8) Use an HB pencil to add medium values. Use hatching lines to shade in the inside section of the upper eyelid, the upper right and lower left sections of the iris, and the small visible section of the white of the eye on the left. The values need to be darker toward the outside edges of the iris to create the illusion that the cornea of the iris bulges slightly outward from the eyeball. Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com - 7 - In this lesson you use different grades of pencils, from hard to soft, to help draw the different values. However, you can also create different values by varying the density (placing lines either far apart or close together) of the individual hatching lines and/or the pressure applied to the paper while holding various pencils to draw. 9) Use a 4B pencil to add dark values to sections of the eye. Add darker shading to: the upper part of the iris, and around the perimeter of the lower half of the iris the upper and lower sections of the inner edge of the upper eyelid the parts of the whites of the eyes on both sides of the iris that are in shadow ILLUSTRATION 03-13 Remember, to make an area darker, you simply add more shading with a soft pencil. To make an area lighter, use your kneaded eraser, molded to a point, to slowly and gently pat off some of the graphite in that section. Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com - 8 - 10) Use a 6B pencil to add dark shading to the pupil, and the outer and upper sections of the iris. 11) Add darker shading to the sections of the whites of the eye closest to the upper eyelid. Use your 6B pencil. These dark values illustrate the cast shadows from the upper eyelids, ILLUSTRATION 03-14 12) With your 6B pencil add darker shading to the upper, lower, and outer sections of the inner section of the upper eyelid. If you enjoy drawing fur, try your hand at drawing Shadow’s face and neck. You can find this project, T-02 Advanced: Diverse Animals in the advanced section of my website. Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com - 9 - 13) Use a 6B pencil, to add several narrow wiggly sections of shading that extend from the perimeter of the iris a little ways inward toward the center of the pupil. These lines illustrate the tiny muscles that are visible in the irises of most eyes. These eye muscles are also in human eyes, and involuntarily work to help the pupil open and close as light conditions change. ILLUSTRATION 03-15 Remember, learning to draw is like learning to play piano. Don’t expect perfection with your first few tries. Plan to practice often, and expect to make lots of mistakes. Check out M-03 Detailed Dog Eye in the Intermediate: Animals and Fantasy section and challenge yourself with a more detailed version of this dog eye. This lesson focuses on drawing the fur-textured forms around the eye, and uses blending to make the eye look shiny. Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com - 10 - BRENDA HODDINOTT - BIOGRAPHY As a self-educated teacher, visual artist, portraitist, forensic artist, and illustrator, Brenda utilizes diverse art media including graphite, technical pen, colored pencil, chalk pastel, charcoal, conté crayon, and oil paints. My philosophy on teaching art is to focus primarily on the enjoyment aspects while gently introducing the technical and academic. Hence, in creating a passion for the subject matter, the quest for knowledge also becomes enjoyable. >Brenda Hoddinott< Born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Brenda grew up in the small town of Corner Brook. She developed strong technical competencies with a personal commitment to self directed learning, and the aid of assorted “Learn to Draw” books. During Brenda’s twenty-five year career as a self-educated civilian forensic artist, numerous criminal investigation departments have employed Brenda’s skills, including Royal Canadian Mounted Police and municipal police departments. In 1992, Brenda was honored with a commendation from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and in 1994, she was awarded a Certificate of Membership from “Forensic Artists International”. Her home-based art career included graphic design, and teaching recreational drawing and painting classes. As supervisor of her community’s recreational art department, Brenda hired and trained teachers, and designed curriculum for several children’s art programs. In 1998, Brenda chose to end her eighteen-year career as an art educator in order to devote more time to writing, drawing, painting, and developing her websites. Drawspace http://www.drawspace.com incorporates her unique style and innovative approach to curriculum development. This site offers downloadable and printable drawing classes for students of all abilities from the age of eight through adult. Students of all ages, levels and abilities have praised the simple step-by-step instructional approach. This site is respected as a resource for fine art educators, home schooling programs, and educational facilities throughout the world. LEARN-TO-DRAW BOOKS BY BRENDA HODDINOTT Drawing for Dummies: Wiley Publishing, Inc., New, York, NY, this 336 page book is available on various websites and in major bookstores internationally. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Drawing People: Winner of the Alpha-Penguin Book of the Year Award 2004, Alpha - Pearson Education – Macmillan, Indianapolis, IN, this 360 page book is available on various websites and in major bookstores internationally. . SHADING: Gather your drawing pencils and prepare to add shading to Shadow’s eye. In addition to its basic triangular shape, a realistic dog s eye drawn. a complex image and subsequently draw it accurately. Eye of a Dog is divided into the following three sections: THE PARTS OF A DOG S EYE: To draw a dog s