Amdall Gallery

Now that I’ve gotten my first attempt using colored pencils down, I decided to jump right back into the fire and try again. I think I learned a couple of things from the first attempt, so I figured it would be good get right back into it while the lessons are fresh. For round 2, I wanted to start with a completely fresh sketch and keep the graphite pencil portion very basic. The plan was to keep it to no more than the most basic outline, and the rest would be done using color. In my first color attempt, I had too much shading and detail with the graphite pencil, and I think it took away from the colored portions.

For this sketch, I thought it would be fun to try one with my youngest and me. I’ve done sketches with the entire family, me and the oldest, me and my wife, and of just the youngest. But, I realized I didn’t have any with just me and our little blondie. The challenge with her is that she rarely smiles for photos, so it’s harder to implement that in a sketch. Once that camera/phone gets pointed at her, if she was smiling, she gets serious. So, I went simple, and rolled forward with her default photo expression.

I’ve added some progression images, mostly because I thought they were funny. I like the first one, prior to filling in any hair color. It makes me look like Kenny Rogers or something. I also get a kick out of our little girls teeth! She’s got a pretty sweet gap between her shiny new front teeth, just like ol’ Dad did before he had braces. She just turned one year old, and is loving her new arsenal of chewing tools.

And here’s how the final piece turned out. I’m actually pretty satisfied with it! I can see definite improvement from that first sketch. My color selection was much better I think, and the blending seemed much more natural. My beard color seems right, but my hair color should probably be a bit darker. And our girl is a bit more pale than I am, but that didn’t really come through in the drawing. Also, her eyes are actually a brighter blue than mine, but in this one they look the same.

Not bad for a second try!