Completed photo-realistic drawing Titled Hope.

Hey Guys. So I finally completed this drawing after long days at the drawing board. I initially determined to spend at least three hours a day with this drawing but I spent more than three hours each day. I had other works I needed to rush so I had to invest more time into this.

WHAT THIS DRAWING MEANS PERTAINING TO THE TOPIC

HOPE That’s what I titled this drawing. Why? Looking at the faces of these kids, one of the hints the emotions on their faces portray is hope. Hope for a better life, hope for a better future, hope for good and healthy living. Hope gets a lot of people going in this world even when there’s every reason to want to give up and succumb to despair. The original picture was sourced from google images under the Kids from war images folder. Sop obviously, these kids had witnessed war, something most of us haven’t witnessed firsthand and yet they are able to look happy for the camera. That’s hope, no matter what they have seen happen, they still believe they can be better and live better. Sometimes Kids are stronger than us adults in their emotions. It might seem like ignorance to others considering the fact that these kids might not even know the effects of war in the real sense but despite the obvious gore they have witnessed….. they still smile…. they still hope…. and Hope keeps us going.

So, starting with the materials I used for this drawing.

I used an Alabaster paper, full sheet for the drawing and then a GPC charcoal pencil along with steadtler pencil sets and an electric eraser.. These are awesome pencils and drawing surfaces I’d advise an artist to try out. They are not so common in my town here so I had them ordered from another state as soon as I found out it was there.

Beginning the work

So after drawing the usual grids which is normal for anyone who frequents my art posts, I tested out my pencils. You can see the rough shades below the paper there. I tested how well they would work with the new blending stomps I got too and familiarized myself with these tools before starting anything on the drawing. The grids took me nothing less than 30minutes.

Moving on

Step 1

Drawing the outlines of the faces. This was one of the most hectic parts. Tailing a drawing this large with 384 inches boxes was tough. You had to make sure every line was precise especially with the close proximity between these beautiful kids. I actually had sweat running down my forehead here.

STEP 2

I start with the first girl. I’m starting from the side so I wont get any graphite or charcoal dust smudged on the other white areas.

**my graphite pencil wasn’t getting dark enough for this girls face so I decided to back it up with the GPC soft charcoal pencil. And it brought out the image wonderfully

STEP 3

I jump straight to the other two guys face. The guy in the middle proved very hard to draw for me. His face had the worst proportion of lighting for me to work with and I struggled here to draw it out

STEP 4

I move on to the other girl placing her hand on the boy in front of her. Her face was one of the easiest I drew although her fingers proved though a bit. But I tried my best there

STEP 5

I move to the last boys face without completing the hair on the last girl cos I don't want to get charcoal smudged on where graphite is supposed to go. This boys face was the best part in this drawing for me. It came easy because him was the smoothest and I liked the way her smiled.

This is the finished work. Not framed yet. I am going to get this framed as soon as possible since I’m going to be using it for an exhibit I will be hosting soon in Lagos city hopefully.

Here are some shots of me with the drawing

I totally love this drawing. This is my largest work yet and I’m still planning on drawing something way larger than this. This was my first work using the alabaster paper and I’m impressed at the effects its given me. Challenging myself further would be my next goal