More than a year ago, I drew the Brazilian Jaguar in graphite on illustration board, in preparation for painting. This was one of my last pencil drawings from the time leading up to my cornea transplant surgeries, as my vision was degrading to the point where I needed to wear heavy magnifying glasses to even see my drawing. Eventually, I decided it was too difficult to see even with the magnifiers, so I ended up painting the jaguar in Photoshop. But I did photograph the original graphite drawing in stages, so here is a breakdown of my drawing process step-by-step. I should mention that I used several reference photos of jaguars (including photos I took at the Sacramento Zoo), but the final drawing is not based on any one photo.
Step 1: Lay-in
I started with the basic layout of the head, focusing on rhythms and alignments. You probably notice the light lines from my previous attempt to draw the jaguar - the head was not quite centered and the drawing wasn't working so me, so I erased it out and drew right over the previous attempt. Actually, I made a number of attempts before arriving at the final version.
Step 2: Alignments, Proportions, Structure
After the initial lay-in, I take time to carefully check proportions and alignments, before hammering out the structures and refining the line work. This is the time to correct any mistakes before taking the drawing too far. If everything is more or less working at this stage, I will develop the structures of head (hammering out the precise shapes of eyes, nose, mouth, ears).
Step 3: Redrawing/Refinement
If the underlying structure of the head is working, I will further refine the line work. My lines get progressively darker as I tighten down the drawing.
Step 4: Adding Detail
If I have a solid foundation to build on (proportions, alignments, underlying structure are all in place), I can begin to add detail. In this case, I was not concerned with copying the jaguar spots from photo reference; I tried to design spots so as to create interesting/appealing patterns.
Step 6: Refinement
Periodically, I will take time to check and recheck my proportions and alignments. If everything is more or less working, I will keep developing the structures of the head and refining the drawing. Notice that my lines are getting darker as the drawing develops.
Step 7: Adding Tone
Finally we get to the part where I start adding tone. Typically, I spend a lot of time on the previous stages because I feel that tonal rendering is wasted energy is you don't build on a solid foundation. If the understructure is working, then the tones should fall in to place.
Step 8: Developing Tonal Range
At this point, I am using darker pencils (6B or even 9B lead) to push the darks as dark as graphite will allow. Also, I try to finesse the line work so that the drawing will look like as polished as I can make it (like a finished illustration, only in graphite).
Step 9: Adding a Background
Now that I'm satisfied with the drawing of the jaguar head, I need to address the background. Initially, I tried several sketches with different background designs. including many more plant shapes. However, I felt that too many plants around the jaguar head were starting to remind me of the mane of a lion, so I drew fewer plants and added a large rectangular shape to help tie the composition together. I wanted the plants and the ears of the jaguar to overlap the edges of the rectangle, because I have always loved the effect of illustrations that break out of the borders - as if they were escaping the surface of the canvas or paper.
Step 10: Developing the Background
I did apply some workable spray fixative to the jaguar head to help preserve my drawing as I work on the background. Nevertheless, I do my best not to smudge the jaguar as I develop the background.
Step 11: Refinement
At this stage, the drawing is approaching completion. Out of habit, I keep stopping to check my proportions, alignments, etc., making sure the previous steps in the drawing are working before I proceed with the rendering. When I feel the drawing is working, I will use blending stumps and tissue paper to gently blend the graphite. A kneaded eraser helps to adjust and edges, lighten any values that need to be lightened, and generally cleanup the drawing.
As a final step, I break out the electric eraser to lighten the highlights in the eyes and on the nose. The final rendered stage can be seen up at the top of this blog post.
Eventually, I did paint the Brazilian Jaguar in photoshop. As my vision heals, I may make another attempt at painting the Jaguar in traditional media. Also, I am developing many more animal illustrations which I hope to post here in the future.
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