For my latest drawing, the prompt was to take a group of photos and use elements of those photos to create a surreal drawing. Here’s the thing: it’s finals and you only have one week to finish it. Also, it must be completed on 18x24 paper. I wasn’t going to let the stress of a million other things get in my way (though it was tempting at times). I always enjoy taking step by step images of my drawing process, because it reminds me exactly how much work I have put in, seeing where I started from. This drawing had to incorporate color in some form, but I knew I wanted the main portion to be drawn in charcoal - why? Because I had been missing it! I had not been able to use it all semester.

Hanna Bewley

I started with the face- it is always the best place to start, at least in my opinion, because you can start to evoke emotion through the eyes and expression from the very beginning. It helps set the tone for your drawing. It makes me more, well, drawn to the drawing.

Hanna Bewley

Next, I finished off the face and started adding to the front legs and paws. It was fun creating the fur texture and the dark stripes.

Hanna Bewley

The background and water splash was super fun to work on after drawing fur for hours on end! I knew I wanted the background to be beautiful and add a lot to the work, but also not take away from the tiger, which is the focal point of the drawing.

Hanna Bewley

After everything else had been added, it was time to add the finishing pieces: the flowers, fruit, and bees. I created these things with pastels to give the piece a pop of color - almost like the color was radiating from the tiger as it was producing the plants. It is a surreal piece, after all.

Hanna Bewley

Now, it is all finished and tucked inside a black frame. It was a fun (but tiring time) and I might have played “Eye of the Tiger” a few times.