"Eye and Nose" study on Strathmore gray toned paper

"Do not fail, as you go on, to draw something every day for no matter how little it is, it will be well worthwhile, and it will do you a world of good." Cennino Cennini

A beautiful inspiring quote which reminds me that no matter how busy I am, I must remove a little time every day for my art which is a true source of "Happiness" to me.

I took out my Strathmore gray toned paper last week after a very long time. Just got tempted to do "Eye and Nose study" so that I can get started with my "Portrait works" once again.

Given below is a small study work of a Rajasthani man, on Strathmore paper. I started this artwork with the intention of doing just the eyes and nose but later on got carried away and did the turban and part of the face too. After having done back to back water colour paintings, doing a charcoal portrait has been a welcome change.

Eye and Nose study work

Charcoal and white pastel pencil work on Strathmore toned paper

Size 4.5" X 6"

Speaking of toned papers the two other papers that I have used in the past are "Textured hand made paper" and Canson Mi Teintes.  All these papers including Strathmore is easily available on AMAZON and other online stores. 

Strathmore Toned Gray Pad

with 50 sheets

Thanks a lot for browsing through my works and to browse through some other portraits that I have created in the past CLICK HERE.

Two more "Eye Studies" on two different papers.

" Drawing is the 'bones' of art. You have to be able to walk before you can run." 
Dion Archibald

Posted below are two more "Eye studies" as created on Canson Bristol and Strathmore Toned Gray paper. I purchased both these papers very recently from Art Lounge. They can also be purchased from ebay India or other online sites.

An Eye study on

Canson Bristol XL paper

An Eye study on 

Strathmore Toned Gray paper

Canson XL Bristol paper is acid free, ultra white and extra smooth. ( 180 gsm ). I used a combination of charcoal and graphite on this paper to create the eye study as above.

I am enjoying working with both these new papers. They are both good in their own ways. Strathmore is textured and being a toned paper I have to use only the white and black pencil to get the different values.

Canson Bristol XL paper

Presently I am also working on some of my old charcoal figurative works which need a little touch up. Will be posting one of them soon.

My works can be browsed through on INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK page too.

Thanks for visiting my BLOG.

Drawing "An Eye" on Strathmore Toned Gray paper

"Where words are restrained, the eyes often talk a great deal." Samuel Richardson

When drawing a portrait it is imperative to focus on "Eyes". The eyes bring life into the portrait and they express the feelings and emotions the person is going through. Drawing eyes requires a lot of understanding of the underlying bone structure or rather human skull. Hence to get a better understanding of the eye and to try out my newly purchased "Strathmore Toned Gray paper", I decided to do few eye studies on this paper.

The pencils I have used are very soft Camlin Charcoal pencil, and Cretacolour white pastel pencil. Since it is a study work I decided to spend not more than forty minutes on each of them. The gray colour of the paper acts as the mid tone value. To view the other tools that I use for my charcoal drawings you can CLICK HERE.

Two Charcoal drawings of 

An Eye Study

on Strathmore Gray Toned paper

The Strathmore toned paper has a very smooth surface and yet has a little texture which helps the charcoal and pastel to fix on it well. I enjoyed working on this paper. Whenever I buy a new paper I start off with a few study works because it helps me know the feel of it. I try out all my pencils and other related tools to understand what works best on it. 

After having worked with different papers I have come to one very significant conclusion, ie every paper has a different texture and feel and a pencil which may have worked very good on a different paper may now always work on the new one as well. Therefore it is best to read and research through the net and listen to the advise of other artists BUT when it comes to actually using a pencil on a paper, the safest way is to try it out.

A new paper or a new set of colours is always an exciting experience for any artist. These days I do a bit of study myself on the net before going ahead to buy new art stationery. I have already tried Canson MT for similar works and it is very good. However I read a lot of positive reviews about Strathmore paper and fortunately it is available in Art Lounge or it can also be ordered online through Amazon India.

If you wish to purchase any of my original art or Commision a painting, contact me on my e mail id and I shall get back to you as soon as possible.

Thanks to all the viewers who have been consistently browsing through my artworks.