On the occasion of just after his second birthday, and having become jealous of his brother getting a portrait last week, Charlie deigns to pose. When you see him on his own like this he looks like a big cat. He isn’t. He’s actually very small and slightly built. He just gives the impression of heft. When you see them together, it’s obvious that George is 30% bigger.
As you can see, some parts of this sketch are more, well, sketchy than others. I was having trouble with my iPad: every time I came close to finishing, the native photo app just dumped all the edits and I was back to square one. After the third time I lost patience and just roughed out everything from his chin down. ETA: I just improved it a bit.
I’ve learnt a fair bit since last week’s attempt. I’ve found that if I begin in Abode Fresco (or Sketch as was), then continue in Apple’s native photo editing app, I get enough of what I need for my level of skill. Right now I don’t need the ten million zillion choices of Photoshop; it’s overwhelming. At the level of figuring out how to show the curve and flow of fur, and how to create shadow (I truly am a beginner at this) I really, really don’t need to figure out the difference between ink and scratchy ink, or wet edges and shape dynamics—I just want a fucking pencil, y’know? Anyway, I’m enjoying this sketching thing now that I’ve found a way to make it simple.
Now that the cats are done I’m turning my attention to some birds, trying to figure out how to make little pictures I can use as icons for the maps I want to make. Per requests on Twitter and Facebook I’m starting with a couple of stabby birds: a bittern (for both SPEAR and MENEWOOD) and a shrike. But I want to do a wren and robin (a British round, Robin Redbreast: I love little round birds that look like truffles you could just pop in your mouth). Then maybe an eagle owl or tawny owl, too. Perhaps a rook. If I can figure out how to make something look fluffy I’ll do an owlet. After that, back to mammals: hedgehog, otter, horse…
Expect more random sketches in the future.
Nicola Griffith 
He looks ready to be worshipped.
You have more artistic talent than you give yourself credit for!
Lovely sketch – very much enjoying the cat art :-) “Deigns to pose” looks exactly right, like he’s doing you a favour by letting you capture his likeness…
Have you tried ProCreate on the iPad? My wife uses it a bit to create designs and illustrations for her ceramics business and is a big fan. From what I’ve seen, it’s more user friendly than Photoshop but still has plenty of capability.
I haven’t tried that yet. Right now I’m happy just fiddling around with what I’ve got, learning the limits—mine and my tools.
I give myself the right credit, I think. I think I have basic aptitude but very little skill/technique. It’s a happy little hobby that I’m not inclined to take too seriously or I’ll get obsessive about it
He was born to be worshipped!
Beautiful portrait! It seems Charlie can be motivated in the same way my Cinnamon and Sage can. Give one something, the other has to have it. :) Thanks for sharing!