This tutorial is part 2 of a 3-part series. In part 1 we created a beginner friend jaguar. In part 2, this tutorial, we will build upon the artwork completed in part 1. The goal is to give the artwork more tonal depth and a better 3d appearance. I want to make clear that we are not trying to create a replica of the reference photo. Instead I want to show you how to improve a basic piece of art using without getting overly complex. I have broken down the steps so that they are easy to follow along and will produce great results.
Be aware that this tutorial is a bit more advanced that part 1. That said, I do think this tutorial can be done by a beginner, but it might be a bit challenging at times.
For this tutorial you need the completed artwork from part 1, and here’s a link to that tutorial: Jaguar Part 1
Part three covers adding a background to the artwork. To make it as easy as possible, I broke it down into stages that get progressively more difficult. The first stage adds the dark tree trunk shapes, the second stage add color to the entire background, and the last stage adds the hints of leaves and mottling to the background. Depending on your skill and comfort level you can decide at which stage you want to stop burning.
Click on the image to the left to watch a YouTube video version of the tutorial.
Now, let’s get to work.
SKILL LEVEL: 2-3
MATERIALS NEEDED:
- Shading tip
- White charcoal pencil
- Completed artwork from part 1
Here’s the pattern from part 1: Jaguar mp pattern
Here is the reference photo. Note that the Jaguar image I’m used was obtained from Pixabay user NetzwerX. Here’s a link to the original photo: Jaguar
In a lot of my tutorials, we analyze the photo to help us create realistic artwork. That is not sometime we will do in this tutorial. Creating a replica of the photo is not our goal. Instead, we are aiming to give the artwork from part 1 more tonal depth and a bit more of a 3d appearance.
One more thing I want to mention. We will be creating highlights and shadows via avoidance and reburning. The highlights are by avoiding an area or not burning over and area. Shadows are formed by reburning over an area so that it is several shades darker than the adjacent fur.
VISUAL AIDE
I want to share with you how I decided to shape the jaguar. As I said I wasn’t trying to create a replicate of the photo. I printed out the pattern, and then I used colored pencils to color in the pattern. This gave me an idea of how to shade the jaguar. Since I was working with paper and pencils, it was easy to make changes until I was happy with the results.
You can do this with any project! Then print the line drawing of the project, and use colored pencils or graphite to start shading the subject. This helps you decide what you need to do. The great thing is that if you make a mistake or don’t like the results, then erase or print out a new one and start over.
STEP 1 – THE FACE
Let’s begin with the face.
Use the razor edge of a shader and burn a thin dark line along the out edge of orange fur on the ear.
This will define the edge of the ears helping them stand out a bit more.
Use the shader of your choice and burn over the right side of the back of the head until it is 2-3 shades darker than it is now. I am mostly using circular motion, but I also use some uniform strokes as my burn method.
Then burn short, dark, thin lines along the base or bottom of both ears.
Next burn longer lines that are much paler in color along the base of the ears. We are creating the base of the wispy ear hair.
Darken up the ear and the area in front of the ear. Keep a smooth transition between the old and new or darker color. You don’t want a hard line marking the edge of where you are re-burning.
Now repeat the same steps on the left side of the head.
Including the lines that extend into the bottom of the ear.
Now burn the area under the right eye below the white fur.
Then burn from the inner corner of the eye to the dashed line on the nose.
It might take several passes of the shader before the area is darkened up from the inner eye to the dashed line.
Repeat the burn strokes on the left side. Notice how this is altering the shape or appearance of the nose.
Darken the orange fur under the left eye.
Now darken up the orange fur on the side muzzle. We want the bridge or the top of the nose to be lighter in color than the sides.
Repeat on the right side. This has given the nose an hourglass shape.
Next burn along the center of the forehead and over or around the spots between the eyes.
Extend the color from on the forehead between the eyes down to the dashed line on the nose bridge.
Then burn around the edges of the nose bridge, but leave a little highlight in the middle.
Here’s a progress photo.
If needed rotate the board so your pen tip is in optimal position and burn along the outer edge of the muzzle.
For some reason the artwork looks much darker when viewed at this angle, but I’m not sure why.
Darken it from the inner eye all the way down to where the orange fur ends.
We see more of the right side of the face, so the dark line from the eyes down shouldn’t have a crisp edge.
Lightly burn over the white fur just under the nostrils.
Burn a wide band of tan color along the upper edge of the lower lip.
Then lightly burn along the lower edge of the upper lip. I’m not sure what this area is called, so you’re stuck with my terminology which is probably incorrect.
Next, use the razor edge of the shader and burn thin lines of various lengths along the dark lips.
Burn a small triangular shape at the top on the nose.
Burn in a dark line that runs down the center the nose.
Then burn a lot of very short, dark thin lines along the upper edge of the nose.
Next, reburn over the nose making it a couple of shades darker than it currently is. Just make sure that the small triangular area is darker.
Here’s another progress photo.
Burn over the upper half of the eyes to create a shadow. How dark you make the shadow is your choice. I didn’t make my shadow very dark until later on, so feel free to make yours considerably darker.
Lightly burn over the white fur on the right cheek. Make the color a little dark along the edge of the muzzle.
Now lightly burn over the white fur on the left cheek.
Burn a dark thin line along the right edge of the wispy hairs on the left ear. Then burn dark bands or thick lines of color that start at the line and end a short distance from the line.
Add a few thick lines in the center of the ear here and there. Also burn some of the lines along the left edge where the wispy white ear hairs end.
Burn thicker and darker lines as you get closer to the base or bottom of the ear.
Repeat on the right ear. Begin by burning the thin dark line along the left edge of the wispy hair.
Then start adding the thick lines that start on line and end not far from the line.
Also burn the thick lines or bands of color along the outer edge where the white wispy ear hairs end.
Here’s another progress photo.
Now look at your jaguar’s face and decide if it needs more work. I felt that the upper right side of the head needed to be darked a touch more. I wanted a clear distinction between the head and the ear.
After you have burned in the body on the jaguar, compare the color or tonal value of the fur on the different parts of the body. Look for any areas that seem too dark or too light compared to the rest of the fur. When I did this, I discovered that the fur on the face appear much lighter in color than the rest of the body, so I darkened up almost everything on the face using the same steps that I already mentioned.
The wispy ear hair was an area I felt needed more work, so darken up the thin line adjacent to the wispy hairs.
Then re-burn the hairs along the inner edge.
Afterwards, darken up the burn strokes along the outer edge that marks the end of the wispy ear hairs.
Repeat those steps on the opposite ear.
After that you need to evaluate your artwork and see what, if anything, still needs to be done.
As I said I pretty much darkened up the entire face.
Even the nose got darkened up, but during this round I only darkened up the lower portion of the nose.
On a whim I burned a few small dark markings on the forehead.
This composite photo shows how the jaguar’s face looked from part 1 and how it looks now.
STEP 2 – THE SHOULDER and FRONT LEGS
Now we will work on the shoulder and front legs.
Begin by burning along the top of the shoulder working your way down along the edge of the face. Make sure your burn strokes do not overlap onto the face. I am using the left edge of my shader to follow along the contours of the face.
For me, it is much easier to burn in by rotating the board. This makes helps keep the pen tip in optimal position, so the face doesn’t get accidently burned over.
Work your way along the along the seam. The seam is where the face and neck touch.
Burn the neck along the seam area several shades darker than what it was from part 1. The reason is that this area is in shadows, so it needs to be darker in color. Plus the darker color will provide contrast with the face.
Rotate the board back and extend the color, but make the color lighter in value the further from the seam you get.
The shadow on the neck extends to the wide marking found there.
Now darken up the upper right or back side of the shoulder area.
Work your way down the back of the leg.
Re-burn along the front of the leg leaving the center alone. We are starting to create a highlight on the leg. Highlights will be the color of the fur from part 1.
To help visualize where the highlight will be, use a white charcoal pencil and color in the highlight.
Is this step necessary? No, but I find it helpful. The charcoal creates a very visible marker of where the highlight will be. You can easily alter the shape and location of the highlight before you resuming burning.
Do not use a white colored pencil! Colored pencil contain wax that will melt, char, and permanently bond with the wood.
Angle the highlight down towards the elbow.
Then burn the fur around the white charcoal so that it is a couple of shades darker than it was from part 1. Just keep in mind that the fur should be darker closer to the neck, so if it ends up looking uniform in color then re-burn along the seam to recreate the shadow.
Make the color of the fur darker the further from the white charcoal you get. The edges of the upper leg are the darkest areas on the upper leg.
If needed rotate the board so your pen tip is in optimal position and burn along the body adjacent to the leg. We are creating a slight cast shadow from the leg onto the body. Yes, this step should have been moved to the body step, but I left it here as I didn’t feel like editing the video tutorial to match.
Make sure to burn along the white colored fur too. I kept my shadow along this area subdued, but feel free to make yours much darker.
Erase the white charcoal with a pencil eraser.
Try to limit the amount of time white charcoal is on the board to a few hours at the most. Don’t leave it overnight! The reason is that the longer the white charcoal is on the board the harder it becomes to erase. This is especially true on unburned wood.
Here’s a progress photo.
Burn around the edges of the highlight to soften the transition.
Continued work.
Burn over the highlight to reduce the contrast a bit. This will make the highlight more subtle in appearance. If you want a more pronounced highlight, then don’t burn over it. You can always change your mind with this later on.
Then start re-burning over the lower leg.
Concentrate the color along the center of the leg. The light is coming from the left, so the left edge of the leg is a touch brighter than the center. The right-side fades to white fur, so that’s why the center is darker than the edges.
Burn a light-colored shadow along the bottom and right side of each toe. The fur here is white in color, so make sure to keep the shadow lighter in color than the orange fur.
Re-burn along the top of the foot to create the slight depression between the ankle and the middle toe.
Finish burning the shadows along the bottom and side of the toes.
Then burn a really dark thin cast shadow on the log under the toes.
Darken up the ankle on the further leg.
Also darken up the orange fur on the toes.
I chose to add a dark line along the right edge of the back leg just to help differentiate between the two legs. I will admit that I made the line a touch too dark, so if you replicate this I’d recommend making the line a bit lighter in color.
Add shadows along the bottom and right edge of the toes.
Lastly add the dark cast shadow on the log under the toes. Extend the shadow to the foot in the front. Rotate the board if needed to make sure you don’t over the front foot.
Here’s the before and after photo of the shoulder and front legs.
STEP 3 – THE BODY
Now we will burn in the fur. We’ll start with the orange-colored fur and end with the white fur.
Use the shader of your choice and burn along the upper edge of the body. Keep your pen tip in optimal position so that you do not burn past the edge.
When you near the hips, burn a V shape along the edge of the hip and the end of the belly area. This will create a subtle shadow or depression along the right edge of the body just before the hips. Yellow lines on the photo are marking the area I’m referring to.
Next use a white charcoal pencil and color in a highlight near the top of the body. Allow the highlight to follow the contours of the back.
Just like before, burn around the charcoal and avoid burning over the charcoal.
I have switched to a larger shader just to get the burning done quicker. Using a larger shader is not necessary, but if you have a larger one it can be convenient to use in this area.
Darken up the left side of the body and allow the color to get lighter in color in the center of the body.
I’m using a lot of uniform strokes and circular motion as my burn methods. Uniform strokes are much easier to do when burning with the grain line. My board has a horizontal grain line, so rotating it makes it easier to burn the uniform strokes.
Darken up the right edge of the belly and allow the color to get lighter in the center of the belly.
Another benefit of rotating the board is that it can help you evaluate your artwork better. The reason is that the shapes don’t look as familiar to your brain, so you concentrate on the highlights and shadows better.
Rotate the board and burn along the bottom edge of the belly.
Darken up the right and left edges of the lower belly. Leave the middle a couple of shades lighter than the edges to give the belly a curved appearance.
Continued work on the belly.
Notice how the side of the body is looked curved. This is because the sides of the body are darker than the center. Plus there is gradient shading that transitions from the side to the center. The gradient shading keeps color smooth so it doesn’t look like bands or stripes of color.
Erase the white charcoal with a standard pencil eraser.
Then do any fine-tuning as needed.
Use circular motion and burn around the highlight to soften the edges. You don’t want a clearly defined line around the highlight. Also make sure to soften the area where the orange fur ends and the white fur begins.
Here’s the before and after photo of the belly.
STEP 4 – THE TAIL and HIND LEGS
Now we will burn in the fur. We’ll start with the orange-colored fur and end with the white fur.
Begin by burning in the back leg. It should be fairly dark near the top where the tail emerges.
The color should be dark along the right side of the leg and get lighter as you approach the left side. The color should also get lighter the further from the base of the tail you get.
Then burn along the top of the hip and tail. Keep your pen tip in optimal position so you don’t burn past the outer edges of the area.
As you burn in the tail make sure to leave a pale border along the left edge of the tail where white fur is located.
Next, work your way down the back of the leg.
Continued work.
Use a white charcoal pencil and draw in a highlight that starts at the hip and gently curves down the top of the leg. The highlight I was drawing was a bit tough to see in this photo, so I added a white line to the photo for ease of seeing it.
Now burn around the white charcoal, and try to avoid burning over the charcoal.
The back or right side of the leg should be darker in color than the front or left of the leg.
Make sure to burn all around the white charcoal so it can be erased.
After you have burned around the charcoal, then erase the charcoal with a standard pencil eraser.
Here’s a progress photo.
If needed, rotate the board and burn along the left edge of the leg. If you are right-handed, you probably won’t need to rotate the board.
Work your way down the leg.
As you re-burn the fur on the leg, make a wide band near the right side the darkest area. I drew a brownish colored line to indicate where the band should be. We don’t want the color to be super dark on the right edge of the leg because we want contrast with the back leg and the background.
Burn all the way down to the top of the foot, but avoid the bottom of the foot.
here’s how the foot looked after I reburned over the orange fur.
Burn a dark thin line along the back of the foot.
Burn a dark line along the opposite edge of the foot bottom. Then burn the bottom of the foot to a very dark tan or light brown color. The black spots should look much darker.
Finishing up the bottom of the foot.
Here’s the before and after photo of the tail and hind legs.
STEP 5 – THE LOG
We are almost done with this artwork. The only thing left to do is burn in the log.
Begin by re-burning along the far edge of the log using the flat of the shader. This will create wide burn strokes that fill the area with fairly uniform color.
Continue to darken up the log. Once a section is darkened up, then use the edge of the shader to burn thin lines here and there. The lines should be burned in the wood grain direction, lines should vary in color, and the lines should vary in length.
With the longer pattern lines, burn a band of dark color along the upper edge of the line. This will create a slight shadow making it look like the wood is a curving. A yellow arrow is pointing to the band of darker color I burned in.
Burn a very dark thin line under the feet to create a shadow. Extend the color a short distance from the foot.
Then resume burning the log. In this photo I’m burning the darker band of color along the top edge of a pattern line.
In this photo I’ve filled the upper portion of the log with wide burn strokes using the flat of the shader. I did not try to make the color uniform. Instead, I re-burned over some the wide burn strokes to darken them a little. We want a bit of tonal variety on the log.
Now I’m adding the dark band of color along the upper edge of the pattern lines.
In this photo I’m using the edge of the shader to burn thin lines that follow the grain direction of the wood.
I was having problems burning along the bottom edge of the board because of the lip on my easel, so I rotated the board to make it easier on myself.
The process remains the same regardless of the direction you are working on the board.
In fact, you might find it easier to work on the log in a different direction. You need to test it out and see what works best for you.
The lower edge (right side in the photo) of the log needs to be darker than the upper edge (left side in the photo).
Adding the thin lines with the edge of the shader.
The more lines you add the darker the area will appear. Also, I purposely make the lines lighter in color along the top of the log and darker along the bottom.
Here’s the before and after photo of the log.
BEFORE / AFTER
Below is a comparison photo showing how the jaguar looked from part 1 and how it looks now.
IN CONCLUSION
We are done with part 2 of the jaguar series. I hope I was able to show you how easy it was to give the artwork from part 1 more tonal depth and a 3d appearance. While we did not end up with a replica of the reference photo, I think this artwork looks great. I really do encourage you to try this even if you are a beginner. I think you’ll be surprised with what you will create.
Before I go, I’ll answer a couple of common questions I get. The artwork was burned on birch plywood. It measures 4 ¾ x 6 ¾ inches (12.1 x 17.1 cm) and took me 3 hours to create. Part 1 took me 2 ½ hours, so my total time on this artwork is 5 ½ hours.
Until the next blog,
Brenda
Mar 30, 2021
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