Comments are very welcome.
I thank you in advance.

Best Wishes
Enia

Beautiful kitty! You did a wonderful drawing here! How did you get such a large image with the restrictions? I'm still having problems.

Thank you! I've seen your work and it's beautiful!

How to post the bigger image: first when you scan your drawing, make sure you go to "settings" and set 72 dpi BEFORE scanning. Then, once you have it in Photoshop, go to "image size" and set it around 500 pixels for "width". Once you have done that, save the image. Then click it off your screen and open it again to see if it comes under 70K. As long as it is 70K or less, it will show here fine. The size it shows as 100% on photoshop is the size it will show here.

I hope I covered it all.
Good LucK!

Enia

.....and the cat's lovely as well

I'm really impressed with this beautiful drawing. You have a great level of understanding - drawing what you know to be true rather than suggesting something half-understood.

Great textures and three-dimensionality. A true understanding of tonal structure that prevents the drawing from getting in the way of the subject.

Wonderful use of negative drawing techniques...

Got to stop...I've run out of superlatives.....

I like the kitten's quizzical expression but maybe a little more "happiness" might have lifted it a bit. Its stare is a little cold to my eyes.

HELPFUL HINT #1... This is a technique I've used for years and might be of use to you. Although the Kitty is a cat and therefore projects emotions in a cat manner - it is being viewed by humans. Humans inevitably look for human emotions in the subject. Look at at your own face in a mirror and copy the look of the Kitty then alter your own facial expression to how you want the Kitty to look. Analyse the changes in your own face and then build those into your drawing. For example if you had extended the shadow of the mouth further to our left, so it finished on an upward curve, your kitten would be gently smiling.

MIKE

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

Quote ... first when you scan your drawing, make sure you go to "settings" and set 72 dpi BEFORE scanning....in Photoshop, go to "image size" and set it around 500 pixels for "width"....save the image...see if it comes under 70K. As long as it is 70K or less, it will show here fine.

I hope I covered it all.

....not quite . One important alteration remains (if you didn't do it in the scanning). In Photoshop go to IMAGE then MODE then click on GRAYSCALE.

Saving as Greyscale removes all colour information and will dramatically reduce your file's size but up to two-thirds.

Also you should find options for altering the compression ratio of your JPEG. Use "Save for web" in Photoshop and try it first set to Medium or 30 (use a setting of about 6 in PhotoDeluxe - 50 in MGI Photosuite).

This setting will lose some information from the image and blur it just a little (as will any resizing) so I usually sharpen the image first to counteract this - about 25% using the unsharp mask is a good setting to try.

MIKE

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

Thank you very much for such wonderful review! It's certainly most appreciated especially coming from such a great artist as yourself! I've been learning a lot from here and from Starving Artists and count both sites in my blessings for 2003!

I was disconnect from the site all day yesterday. Don't know if it was just on my end ?

Anyway it's good to see it back up again!

See you soon

Enia

You're welcome!! It's much more fun posting images now knowing that they'll appear the way you want them to, isn't it?

I remember this one - it's great that we can see more of the detail now. It has lots of softness and depth. You should be very proud of yourself!

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

And...I disagree with Mike about the eyes... I LIKE the slight alien-cat stare she has! Mike's advice about the human look is great, and I think he is proabably right in most instances - but not this one! (sorry Mike!).

It could be because I have been on the recieving end of that cat stare fairly often - you know, where they just do not acknowledge you as being a worthwhile member of their universe. This kitty has got that look down.

"Only a cat may look at a king..."

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

This is the highest compliment anyone can pay an artist - to tell him he captured something about the subject's soul.

gosh, am I deep or what?

Honest though.

Thanks a million for letting me know that.

Best Wishes
Enia

Quote ...I disagree with Mike about the eyes... I LIKE the slight alien-cat stare she has! Mike's advice about the human look is great, and I think he is proabably right in most instances - but not this one!

It's no good trying to soften the blow, Linda - the damage is done

Actually, I'm not disagreeing with you at all. I don't dislike "the slight alien-cat stare". The eyes are beautifully drawn and project a very recognisable cat-like look. I think my objection was simply that the look excludes the viewer - we are not part of her world. She's looking past the viewer at something that isn't greatly pleasing her.

I wasn't criticising the drawing - merely stating that my own approach would be to soften the look by injecting a human emotion that the viewer could connect to. But I draw to sell and this drawing only needs to succeed in its own right - so I suspect, with hindsight, that my point was of little value.

I still think this drawing is one of the best I've seen in quite a while.

MIKE

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