Original Charcoal Drawing by @caseynealartwork - 'Whale In Space'

The solitary whale, drifting through the void of the Universe.

Whale in Space - Drawing by Casey Neal copy.jpg

This drawing represents my two greatest artistic inspirations, space and wildlife.

Materials:
Charcoal: General's White & Black Charcoal Pencils
Paper: Strathmore 400 Series Artagain Black Paper

High Quality Art Prints Are Available:
http://www.caseynealartwork.com/product/sea-life-bundle

Time-Lapse Drawing Video:

I've given this drawing a final pass with details since I posted this time-lapse, but it should give you an overall idea of how it was created. I'll also include a short work in progress write-up below as well.

The Drawing Process:
For these space drawings I use black paper and a white charcoal pencil. I draw in all the highlighted areas first, then I move on to the shadow areas. For these darker areas I use black charcoal. Then I move on to the background. The paper is somewhat reflective, so I like to use a black charcoal stick and black out the entire background. Charcoal doesn't reflect light at all, so it really makes the subject jump out. For the stars I like to sharpen the white charcoal pencil and 'dot' all of the main stars. Sometimes I'll sharpen 6 or 7 white charcoal pencils, rubber band them together, and then dot 7 at a time. Once the main stars have been drawn in, I'll lightly sand down some white charcoal above the drawing using sandpaper and let the small bits of white charcoal fall onto the drawing to create various sizes of distant stars. Afterwards I spray the entire drawing in a fixative to hold the light white charcoal stars in place.

Thanks for watching, and reading through my post!

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Official Website: http://www.CaseyNealArtwork.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CNealArtwork/
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/casey_neal/