Wolf and Macaws?

I am slowly edging towards the finish, I can't believe I am working so fast. For the water around the wolf I am using a reckless technique which allows me to produce many dots in one stroke. Therefore, I do not have to dot in each individual speck of water with a blade,which is the benefit, I just drag my blade along the board in a fashion that causes the blade to skip leaving dots in its path. However, if I do this at the wrong angle and pressure I don't get many dots I just get a line, this is the downside. Then I have to use my good friend ( black repair ink ) lol.


The update:

I have finally fixed the bright yellow on the branch of the macaws. It was really annoying me. I have decided to title this piece "Living life on a limb".

Still going...

I am now finding this wolf piece very difficult. The water is really hard to portray just using a scalpel to create dots and lines.  The foremost paw is looking a little off the now but hopefully I will be able to fix that later, that is if  I don't give up on this. I did start this piece knowing that it was going to be an experiment.

This is where the Gray Timber Wolf is at the now...

'Determination' Updated.

Back with an update on the wolf. This time it is the whole board. The other eye is a bit too big so I will have to fix that before I scratch it all.

I feel that this piece is flowing smoothly and will hopefully have a smooth finish too.

As you can see I have added in a few water droplets. I will be darkening the blobs of water some more to try achieve some depth.

Determination.

I have started another work in progress of a wolf on a 16x20 ampersand scratchboard. In this piece I will be tackling wet fur and water. This is also my first attempt at a wolf. Photo reference from Steve on Flickr.

This is just a close up of what I have done so far. The eye just needs some more touching up.

Finished! Finished! Finished! (Parrot)

I am happy to say that I am finally finished with the macaws! After two and a half months of work and this being my first attempt at colouring a scratchboard I am quite happy with this piece. However if there is one thing I have learned there is always room for improvement. There are quite a few things I am not happy about but it is impossible to produce something perfect. lol

Oh and the yellow blob at the bottom right hand corner is my signature lol

Anyway the picture, still to think of a title, the branch for some reason is showing up really yellow for some reason.

I also thought I would post one of my other works that I completed back in January.

It is 8x10, black and white and titled  'The Dwindling Majestic' one again thanks Susan for the title!

Macaw update!

Another update on the Macaws. I am hoping to get them finished tomorrow:). I am debating on whether or not I should put in a background too. The thought of adding one in is kind of daunting considering I have never attempted a background on scratchboard but I also feel that this piece may not need a background.

I have added in the branch as well. This is getting so close to the finish that it is scary.

Green winged macaws

I also started another 12x16 scratchboard a while back which I have finally had time to work on again. It is my first venture into colouring scratchboard with ampersand coloured inks and knew that the macaws would not be done justice in black and white.

The reference photo I am working from is taken by the talented photographer Corinne Alexandra from Flickr.

I have found that to get really vibrant colours you have to do a lot of layering by re-inking and re-scratching.

This is my progress so far.

First Post

I have decided to start a blog and I welcome you to the The Animal and Wildlife Art of Irfan Ahmed. I am an artist who does art for a hobby and have started to make some money through it from commissions. I primarily work on scratchboard which I purchase from the US and work on the Ampersand make. I have recently started using scratchboard and I think it is the medium for me so I will start my blog off with a Work In Progress of a male Lion, based of a reference from Tambako the Jaguar, which I am doing for a great friend of mine.

This is the progress so far