Pyro Elvis #2: The Middle

Okay, that was easy, right! :>) Now onto the next couple of steps.

Step 3

More shading work has been done in the hair area. You can see that om order to achieve the swirls and highlights in the hair, some of the lines will be very dark to create accents, and some will be left unburned. Some work has also been done around the mouth and nose area and I’ve basically finished with the right eye. Time spent woodburning to this point is about 1.5 hours.

Now its starting to look a bit like Elvis but is still mostly line work and a bit of shading. Step 4 below is a lot further on and I have completed a fair bit of the picture, just leaving the hardest part for last, the sweater.

Step 4

I have finished the border, hair and face completely now. You can see where I did not shade in the hair. This is the direction the light is coming from and creates a highlight in the image. So by watching how the shading is done, you can create the same effect. You need to be aware of where the light direction and how it can affect your picture. I also added a few bits of shading on the face to suggest the cheek bones, the shadow from the nose, etc.. I also added another text element to the piece and have started work on the cable-knit sweater. Getting a piece to look 3 dimensional is a matter of paying attention to light and shadow and how and where they come into play in the picture.

Getting to this stage took about another 3 hours of work, mostly shading. That makes it about 4-4.5 hours on this piece so far. Not bad.

Next entry, the finished piece.

Cheers,
Doug

-- Koopmaun, Canada, www.screekpaddleco.com