Ladybug drawing in oil pastels

15 Apr
2009

Ladybug drawing in Oil Pastels

My latest oil pastels art … a ladybug drawing for Drawing 2 class. The assignment was to draw a bug, really up close, using oil pastels. I wish I could post some of the pieces that others did for class too. Several of them were amazing! This one turned out pretty good, I think. I am pleased with how the reflection and shininess worked out, and the water drops seem fairly realistic.

This time I used mostly Sennelier oil pastels. A few Cray-Pas Expressionist were used for coloring in major areas, also some black from that set. But I think from now on I’ll be using Senneliers for the majority of my artwork in oil pastels. They’re richer, blend better, and I also am noticing they actually stick to the paper better.

I didn’t do anything for a background. The green is 100% from the toned paper (Canson Meintes).

I have listed this piece for sale at ArtWanted.

In: Oil Pastel Art
Tags: Artwork, Oil Pastel Painting, Oil Pastels, Sennelier Oil Pastels

20 Responses to Ladybug drawing in oil pastels

Eric

April 15th, 2009 at 7:35 pm

Yulia, thanks for your comment. I love your art! Hoping to see the ‘Night Fantasy’ finished soon.

Kikolani

April 16th, 2009 at 7:01 pm

The water spot is amazing. That is superb technique. Feel free to use my photography anytime if you want to base some artwork on it.

~ Kristi

Eric

April 16th, 2009 at 7:08 pm

Wow, thanks Kristi! I would love to use some of your photos. I’ll be in touch on that (some time after school semester ends!). Thanks for the comments I appreciate it. – Eric

Kikolani

April 16th, 2009 at 7:52 pm

You’re welcome. I’d love to see some of my photography translated to real art.

~ Kristi

Ps. I don’t see the Commentluv checkbox. It has been working for me on other sites though.

jennifer phillips

April 16th, 2009 at 9:04 pm

I like to see how you are using the oil pastels… such a soft effect! Really nice…
Sennelier are my favorite – not to mention are the most butteriest on the market! I do occasional oil pastel renderings but with more texture. How do you achieve such a smooth finish? Mineral spirits?

jennifer phillips’s last blog post..Happy Easter Every Bunny!

Eric

April 16th, 2009 at 9:13 pm

Hi Jennifer, thanks for the comment!

Indeed Senneliers are my favorite as well. I have yet to try anything like using mineral spirits though. I suppose the smooth finish is more a result of choice of paper.

I just visited your blog briefly – nice work. I love your Road to Lilliano piece!! Added you to my RSS feed.

David

April 17th, 2009 at 12:19 pm

The thumbnail of this actually looks like a photo, so I guess that is pretty good as I seem to remember pastels are quite chunky.

Do you have a DeviantArt account? That is another good place to sell art. Some people manage to make a living from it.

Bets

April 17th, 2009 at 1:34 pm

Soft yet rich. Awesome! And – lol – I love the way she seems to be looking right at you – half expected her to start talking Animated movie … hmmmm. Keep em coming Eric!

Bets

Evita

April 20th, 2009 at 3:25 pm

This is such a great piece Eric! I loved ladybugs as a child – there is such a vibrant cuteness to them! And you captured it so uniquely especially with that background paper.

Now my next question is where is the praying mantis, I would love to see how you did that one

Eric

April 21st, 2009 at 8:20 am

@David – somehow this piece came out less ‘chunky’, I think it’s because the Sennelier pastels are really smooth and buttery. I do have a DeviantArt account, which I probably should be making more use of: http://renkaiart.deviantart.com/

@Bets – thanks! Maybe I should talk to Pixar about creating a new animated ladybug character?

@Evita – Thank you for the comment. The praying mantis piece just wasn’t working out for me. I may pick it back up again after classes are over. But at the moment that one exists in a pile of unfinished pieces What can I say – I just wasn’t happy with it!

Eric

April 22nd, 2009 at 4:54 pm

Hey zOnk thanks for visiting. Yeah I loved that Burning Babylon wallpaper you made! I’m a bit of a reggae fan.. recently discovered Groundation. Ever heard them?

David

April 22nd, 2009 at 5:38 pm

Your DeviantArt sketches are impressive. You have a good eye for details. I am always wondering, are your art people naturally gifted at being able to draw things that actually look like what they are of, is it something they have learned or a bit of both?

When I was a bit younger, I sort of wanted to take the graphical route, but found my calling in programming and other geeky stuff. I always wondered if I would have got good at art if I spent more time doing it. I can generally do a good job on the computer, like my icons, but am pretty bad with a pencil.

I went to school with two children of a relatively well known artist (Peter Edwards) and both of them were very highly regarded back then and I think are both involved in art now. I don’t know if this was upbringing or something else.

Kikolani

June 3rd, 2009 at 3:55 pm

The Deviant Art sketches are quite amazing… thanks for sharing the link, and for the wonderful comment on my dancing post.

~ Kristi

Pierre Relation

June 23rd, 2009 at 4:14 am

I’m not really an art critic, I only received the link to this post from a friend who thought the picture is great, but for what it’s worth I do want to say the photo is impressive. I really thought it is digital art until I read you used oil colours… It looks amazingly photo-like!

Rene Rencontre

July 3rd, 2009 at 3:58 am

Hi Eric! You need to start to attend with this in the future. You have a talent , seriously. it’s like real one. Good job!

Gregg @ Oil Painting and Supplies

July 22nd, 2009 at 1:00 am

Wow I really love the surreal look of the lady bug ready to jump off the page. I am trying to learn more soft strokes in my painting. Like I said, I am learning. These are great.