The Story Of
Caged
In 2019, I did this drawing as an entry for the 'Sketch for Survival' competition, which is part of the 'Explorers Against Extinction' organisation. The annual collection of original artworks is donated by professional and celebrity artists. The collection celebrates the beauty and colour of the natural world while also raising awareness about the threats facing it, including those posed by human activity. The best 100 artworks are selected by a panel and added to their core Sketch for Survival touring collection. One artist will be selected as the SFS Introducing 2019 Artist of the Year. No artwork will be wasted - those submissions not selected for the tour will go into the Sketch for Survival Art Gallery to be purchased in aid of Explorers against Extinction projects. Everybody who submits an artwork will receive a Certificate of Participation from Explorers against Extinction.
This drawing of a Lars Gibbon was one of the 100 artworks selected to go into
the Gallery was exhibited in Bristol, and was sold for the cause.
(Big thanks goes to Nigel West for the use of his original reference photo)
Sold
This is the start of the drawing using some water soluble pencils to lay down a base colour on a white sketch of the Gibbon.
The expression and detail on the eyes in this drawing were very important as I wanted to convey the emotions of being caged. Building up the layers of the skin and fur taking note of the direction of the light.
After putting in the individual hairs on the face and brow, I start to build up layers of pencil to convey the direction of the fur.
Deciding when a drawing is finished is always difficult as you think you can always add a little more detail. The problem is that you don't want to overwork it!
I decided after putting in some light shading denoting the bars of the cage in the background that this drawing was finished.
