Well it seems like somehow my previous post got blasted into the ozone layer somewhere so I'll try this again. This break at least gave me the chance to do some more work on the Robin. First let me say thank you to Linda for the nice comments that she left.
This picture is of a British Robin in memory of my girlfriend's dad who came from England and loved them. They are at 5 hours, 10 hours and 15 hours respectively. They're quite different from North American Robins so any advice will be very welcome!
Thanks,

Kevin

LOVE your robin, and yes it does look very different from our robins here. Beautiful branches and misty-like background - it's very dreamy and serene, wonderful. It looks great so far!!

"We must become the change we want to see" - Gandhi

I particulary like the way you have used the background to tie the entire drawing together. It draws your eye in nicely to the main subject.

well done.

Linda Weil
www.users.bigpond.net.au/lindaweil/

Robins are quite a dark brown and I'd like to see a little more strength of tone here.

As much as I like the twig I think it's competing with the bird for attention. A little darkening of tone to the head and back might overcome this. But I appreciate that this really is a difficult subject as the red breast is almost the same tone as the brown - you've defined the lower edge of the red very well - and I can see that darkening the head and body might compound your problems

This is difficult to explain but my eye tends to want to read this bird as being green or blue or even grey but not dark brown.

Apart from that minor criticism - I think you've done a splendid job.

MIKE

www.SibleyFineArt.com
www.Starving-Artists.net

Mike, Thank you for your input, this is what I am needing on this one. I didn't realize the troubles I would have with the different values of this little fella. All the little variants in the colors are hard to keep separated. I think I'll head in the direction that you suggest with darkening of the head and back. I hope it helps. I'd also like to keep the red of the breast standing out as I feel it's important in the identity of this little bird. I think I'll do this by keeping it on the dark side. I'm just kind of playing with the overall balance of the values and keeping my fingers crossed. Wish me luck and I'll keep everyone posted on the progress. Feel free to offer up any more comments!

Kevin

Kevin

Quote The red breast color and the brown of the bird are very close in value

Hi Kevin,
The values of the red and brown probably are very close, especially in a scan. I always tend to view reds as dark greys and blacks - keeping the browns lighter. Although this may not be really correct if you convert them to greyscale, it seems to work okay visually. The brain sort of interperts the darker colour as a red if done right. I'm not talking a big difference, maybe a 10 to 15% darker than the brown.

I'm looking forward to your next update.

Linda Weil
www.users.bigpond.net.au/lindaweil/

Thanks again,
Kevin