Fallow Deer Graphite Sketch

I haven’t done a graphite sketch for ages and for some reason I’m just not attracted to all the half finished watercolours I have sitting around… a very good friend of mine (Gina) mentioned today that these are commonly known as UFO’s, UnFinished Objects. Well, I’ve always been a big Sci Fi fan 😉

So, anyway, today this seemed like a good excuse to pick up the graphite sticks and have a play with a greyscale sketch. Who knows it might also help my ongoing difficulties with tonal values (well, of course it will!!). So, again taken from Paintmyphoto, this is a beautiful Fallow deer fawn from a photo by Lenora Melville.

I actually thought that being such a compact and interesting pose it would be fairly easy to draw, but I was so wrong… the back end fell into place quite easily, but head and neck were very difficult to get right. Luckily you can’t tell, but there were three or four attempts to get to this result – and the nose is still a bit long (that seems to be a common problem, noses are always too long). I am very happy with how the spotty fur turned out though, and I thought that would be the hard part!