Mangoes are beautiful. I'm intrigued by the huge range of color that is found on their skins. So this piece was an exercise in color: the outline took a minute to draw, but the rest took hours. I didn't quite achieve the control over the gradating color that I'd hoped for, though. Many colored pencil artists are masters at layering. As for me, I can never quite decide whether I should layer dark-to-light or light-to-dark. And I get impatient and want to see one area finished, instead of working the whole piece at once. I've included some work-in-progress scans, so that you can see my indecision and impatience firsthand. But first, here's a shot of my set-up...those colors really are that bright on the actual fruit!
 |
| I used a LOT of pencils on this one mango! |
 |
| Starting to burnish... |
Frankly, I think I need a break from these painstaking pieces; I feel the need to sketch fast and loose this week. I keep looking at this little sketch I did a while back. It took hardly any time at all, but for some reason, it's one of my favorite little drawings.
So, check back later this week; hopefully I'll have some sketching successes to share!
