Gourd Pyrography

Colorado Trinket box

Day 2

The first tree is the hardest, and takes the longest.  This is typical for me, once I have the idea of how it will turn out, I can move forward with confidence knowing where my actions are leading me.  The seocond tree we will place to the side and a little behind the first tree, and this is where the shading of the sun from one side begins to show it's value.  By shading one side more than the other, we not only create a natural daylight effect, but it also seperates the tree's.

I notice in the picture that the shading of the second tree is kind of squared off, but after I get it all done, I will look at area's that need a little fine tuning.

Next we will start creating the forest. Obviously perspectives demand that as we move back into the background, the tree's will get smaller than those in the foreground. Also, as we do tree's that are further away, the darkness will not be intense, in otherwords they will be a little bit lighter in shad, and also they become less defined than those in the front. Make sure your tree's deeper in the forest are not taller than those in the front.  Also as the forest begins to fill with peaks of tree's between the others, you eventually can simply stipple the area and add a little shading for definition.

From the front corner of the forest, we've added a second tree, then some other tree's in the forest background. here is an example of adding a background tree behind the first two:

If you notice the forest so far in the previous images, and now the background tree, the shading helps define the individual tree's without just bleeding the tree's together.  Without the shading, it would just be a dark stippling patch.  The shading defines the branches as well as the individual tree's.

Next, in my light sketching, I have included an elk in the foreground.  Using the same small chisel tip and same temp settings, because his fur is very similar to the appearance of the pine tree's, I am using stippling for his neck main along with a few lines to define the beard.  I have also used the chisel with the temp turned down and using it like a light pencil I've begun drawing his overall shape and darkening in some of the edges by repeated drawing over the same area's.

That is is for today, tomorrow I will try to spend a litle time on the elk to begin to define him a little more.  We are at the end of October and the beginning of November, and this is the time of month I begin rebuilding one of my websites, (Daily Sales Online), and for the next few days, at least until about the 3rd of November, when I will be able to spend a little more time each day woodburning.

Gourd Trinket Box, Day 3 >>>