Doodle # 16

Click to enlarge the images.

This is a special doodle, it's a birthday present for a wonderful friend, she is a Halloween baby :) I was her caretaker for several years, her health is better now so she doesn't need me like she did, during the time I was her caretaker, we spent a lot of time together and we got very close, she considers me like her daughter and I consider her like a mother.

I worked on this for a couple of days, maybe 5-6 hours total, I didn't want it to get busy, I like the white space. I also debated about the shading, after deciding to do it, I am happy that I did it, it really sets off the piece.

I used something new and different (to me) to do this picture, I used tracing paper, it's almost like very thin vellum, it takes the ink very well, and it also takes graphite for shading very well. Being so thin and translucent, it does need a backing sheet of white paper in the frame to make the background look white. Even though it's thin and seems delicate, it is sturdy paper and holds up well to the ink, graphite, eraser, blending stump and all the handling it received before finally going into the frame.

I drew my design/line art in Photoshop, printed it off, then using the tracing paper for what it's best for, I traced the image in ink, then I began to add the doodles and details in ink. Once I was satisfied with the inking, I used a graphite pencil and a blending stump to add the shading.

I put this in a plain black frame, it's about 8x10, I did have to trim the tracing paper to fit.

Supplies:
01, 03, 08 Micron pens, black
black Ticonderoga graphite pencil
blending stump
Mead Academie tracing paper - medium weight - 9x12
black frame 8x10

I took it over to her house shortly after finishing it, she loved it!