PencilPaws

Hanging on!

This adorable little monkey I photographed in Baguio in the Philippines. Unfortunately he was being kept as a pet and was on a long chain tied to the post that he is clinging to. At the time, Baguio was hosting a garden show/competition and somebody seemed to think he enhanced the look of their garden - as I expect you can tell, I am totally against keeping wild animals as pets!

In any case, even though this photograph doesn’t hold good memories for me, I do love the depth of emotion in his eyes. I always strife to show emotion in my drawings, therefore I wanted to attempt this one. My husband in the background is saying ” A frightened monkey, Denise no one will buy it”! However instead of being commercial, it is more important for me to draw what moves me, so a worried monkey it is!

Here is the initial photograph and the first stage of the sketch.

Have now worked for a few more hours on the sketch, am working from top left down. I am going to continue trying to get the face part more detailed before moving onto the rest. So far so good, quite liking the look at the moment, still lots of work to do on the eyes though.

Have now worked every area to get the basic structure. Now comes for me the best part, putting him on the easel, stepping back and working from a distance. At this stage I refine the light and shade to start to unify the drawing.

Here he is, the finished little monkey.

I am so sorry I couldn’t help him escape the situation he was in.