Raven portrait in progress 9 - a symmetrical fade-out

In a previous post I showed how I created a center-line with white chalk pencil (easy to erase later) up the center of Raven’s muzzle, so I could measure the same distance out on both sides to keep things symmetrical. In this pic, you can see where I’ve measured out from the center line and marked two vertical lines on either side of his ruff. So I can make sure the curve of his ruff is symmetrical: the same distance on both sides. That’s where I’ll fade out the bottom of his white ruff into the background paper color. 

An example of the many things an artist can do to make the portrait as visually appealing as it can be. 

We would not want a lopsided fade-out! 

Can a person “eyeball” that without guidelines? Of course! I usually do. Whether to make guidelines like this to assist you might depend on the level of confidence you have in your abilities…or how much of a perfectionist you are in your art. 

The black ‘mane’ on the left of Raven’s face is finished, next I’ll do the mane on the right, following that curved grey line I marked out earlier, keeping both sides symmetrical. Then I will do the white ruff all in one go, making a nice symmetrical fade-out to finish his portrait.   

🎨 Prismacolor pencil on “Sand” Canson Mi-Teintes paper, 16 x 20 inches.

“Raven”

Conant’s Raven Nevermore CDX RN

Commissioned by Cathy Nearman.