# Boudicca



## sigmadog (May 27, 2016)

Here's a graphite drawing of mine from a few years back, when I first started using my sigma signature.

This started out as a portrait of Sinead O'Connor. But I decided she needed hair, so I named it Boudicca after the ancient Celtic warrior, and added a bunch Celtic-like designs in the background to represent her shield.

I'm quite fond of this piece.




Note to Reich; see how the dark areas are blocks of dark tone without lines. One of the tricks to good dark shadows is to not press too hard with the pencil, but just let it keep adding to the tone, making it a deeper tone slowly. Patience pays off. If the area you are shading begins to look shiny, you are pressing too hard. If you use a soft #2 pencil, you won't get very dark darks, but everything is relative, and the viewer will interpret it as black. I used a variety of leads on this. I think the darkest tones came from a 4B ultra soft.

- Steve


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## Reichelina (May 28, 2016)

On hey Sigma! 

I'm super touched! Hihi.
You're awesome! The background! How many hours did it take you to finish this? Wow.

Do you make an outline of the jaws and other parts, or everything is through shading? 
I have to admit, I am incorporating your advice and I think it looks more realistic than before. 

The nose! Your nose is amazing. Huhu. I want to draw a good nose. 

Do you use charcoals? Can you share any artworks using charcoal and maybe pastel (colored drawings)? 

There's a badass on YouTube who uses black paper and then white charcoal. He says SHADE SHADE SHADE! I had to check if it's your channel. Hehehe. 

Thank you sigma! 

- Reich


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## Firemajic (May 28, 2016)

You nailed Sinead's features, the broad sweeping forehead, the intensity in her eyes and the curve of her lips... I love graphite, it is my favorite medium to work with, I love the play of light and dark, so much drama... my problem is I am never sure what weight of paper to use...Your work is stunning, some of the best I have ever seen... oooh, the background is sublime... there, but not overpowering the subject.. Thank you for sharing your work, it was a pleasure!


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## sigmadog (May 28, 2016)

Reichelina said:


> How many hours did it take you to finish this?



Many hours. Just guessing, but I think it was probably 12-15 hours or so.



> Do you make an outline of the jaws and other parts, or everything is through shading?



I do a very light line to start because that's necessary to get the form correct. If I'm feeling bold, I might just dive in to creating shadow masses, but the danger there is that I may not get the proportions of the whole object correct - and then I spend a lot of time fixing things. The best way for me is to lightly outline the form only to the point where I can take over with dark masses.



> The nose! Your nose is amazing. Huhu. I want to draw a good nose.



Noses are very difficult. I have to really focus on what I'm doing when drawing noses - no daydreaming allowed.



> Do you use charcoals? Can you share any artworks using charcoal and maybe pastel (colored drawings)?



I haven't worked charcoals since college. Too messy for me. I do like pastels, but I only have a couple works that I like.


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## sigmadog (May 28, 2016)

Firemajic said:


> I am never sure what weight of paper to use...



I like the feel and effect of graphite on watercolor paper. The texture adds a lot of character. The weight of the paper isn't as important to me as the texture, but I do tend to prefer the heavier grades.

The trick is to avoid erasing too much as that destroys the paper texture.


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## Reichelina (May 28, 2016)

sigmadog said:


> Many hours. Just guessing, but I think it was probably 12-15 hours or so.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



No daydreaming?!!! Why? Hahaha.

Thanks Sigma! Looking forward to see more from you!!


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## TKent (Jun 13, 2016)

Love it!


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## Aquilo (Jun 17, 2016)

Gorgeous!!


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