Child at Play Series

Child at Play 1

Pencil Color on Paper

8.5 X 14

Sept. 11, 2013

This work is one of my favorites.  I have awarded this to a friend who's already in Vietnam.  It took me 3 hours to finish this.  It was through this drawing that I discovered the characteristics of drawing pencils.  The one that I was using is Castell-Faber coloured pencil.  It was frustrating at first that I wasn't able to make the colors vivid.  Then I accidentally placed one colored pencil in my mouth while thinking, and had wet the tip of the colored pencil.  When I put it down on the paper, the led became softer and the vividness of the color that I was looking for came alive.  I immediately looked at the pencil's box and found out that the colored pencil was water-based.  From then on, I get water and dip the pencil's led on it when I do the final touches.

My reference for this artwork was a picture of a Vietnamese kid playing on a hammock.  Her face is sweet and she seems so happy and untouched.  That's why I had the photo downloaded and had it printed.  While drawing, I captured the facial expression but changed the way it looked.  Thus, if you'll see the original photo, you would know that it's very far from what the kid looks like.  The kid was darker and this drawing is paler.  Nonetheless, I am happy with the output.  

Have you noticed the blending of colors?  If you have any comments about this drawing, please feel free to do so.  I will take it as a constructive criticism.  Thanks for reading.