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When they give you cardboard, give em sheep


I was asked if I could help make sheep for a Nativity play this year. The next day I was given a few sheets of cardboard... So I went into the planning phase. After looking through dozens of sheep images and practicing their anatomy and proportions some rough drawings emerged. Then I looked only at sheep from the middle east region as to best match the occasion. After finding the right herd I traced the poses in Photoshop. In the sketchbook I drew these until it was a convincing silhouette.

Now looking at the computer screen and holding the cardboard I sketched the sheep and light information using graphite. I applied the paint in many layers, thin. It is a blend of Flat interior house paint, Turner Acryl Gouache, and some craft paint from Michael's. After the majority was complete it was time to focus on highlights and deepen the shadows. Finally, the top coat has a swirl pattern to give a sense of 'wool'.

Someone saw me working on the sheep and asked how they would stand. We brainstormed and when I cut off the tops of the sheep boards it became their feet. Also a tab was left above each one so they could be moved without touching the painted part. The result was they appeared in the play and the play went very well. We know the sheep were not the focus but I am glad it added to the play.

Not long ago a friend was married so some sketches were added here. Also I learned a better technique to move the line art into the computer. This is why you will see a few double images showing the contrast.

Before signing off and wishing all a happy new year, I want to add something of value for the readers. This year when it came time to renew my Adobe cloud subscription I was able to get a really nice discount they offered for black Friday. The other discovery is that the annual billing and monthly billing work out to be the same cost. For me this helped my budget in a big way. Dealing with smaller amounts throughout the year is nicer that taking a big chunk right before Christmas. It helped me and it may be good for some of you also. I have had some fun driving Uber/Lyft so my screen time has been cut back some. Thank you for reading and I hope your 2019 is AMAZING.


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