I remember the first time I saw a humpback whale off the coast of Massachusetts near Stellwagen Bank. The power and gentle grace of that magnificent animal has never left me and those I've seen in the waters of southeast Alaska arouse those feelings with each sighting. The "first people" often depict the humpbacks through their traditional artwork, whether carved or painted, and in this drawing I hope to blend their totemic forms with the natural ones to envision the spirit whale. Keep in mind that the drawing times listed do not include the hours spent researching the piece and finally coming up with the actual drawing idea.

This is actually the third preliminary sketch of the main subject. In the first two I worked out what form the whale would take and also how I would incorporate the totemic designs within the whale itself. As you can see, I want the whale to have a "carved" appearance. The actual whale will be done in ink and have light refractions on his body as well. I have not yet decided if the background will be done in graphite showing the rays of light or if it will be a deep black ink for dramatic lighting. We'll see. Drawing time to this point is approximately 12 hours.

In this photo you can see the very beginnings of the actual pen and ink drawing. I know that it's difficult to see all the details but believe me, it's not easy for me at this stage either. I've drawn the outline of the whale onto the ragboard and gone over that light pencil with either a fine ink line or tiny dots, depending on what the shading will be on that particular part. I've also added in pencil where the light refractions will be. This looks to be a particularly difficult drawing to do but I always like the challenging ones. Drawing time to this point is approximately 23 hours. Stay tuned for the next update.

As you can see, the actual inking is well under way. I'm convinced that this drawing is one of the most finely and intricately detailed ones I've ever done since the drawing time at this point is 114 hours. Looks like I'm in for a long haul. Some of the dotted parts have taken up to 5 passes with the pen in order to achieve the desired shading and tones. That will change as the drawing progresses as I will add more passes to refine it further. The light refractions will not be shaded until the piece is nearly complete.

This detail gives you a closer look at the drawing in the stage mentioned above. I've purposefully left the eye ovoid blank at this point because, since it will be close to a solid black, it will have a tendency to smear so I will leave it until last. I really enjoy giving it a carved and 3-dimensional look such as around the eye socket and eye lid but it does take quite a bit of time and you have to be very light-handed.

At a drawing time now of 209 hours, the drawing is finally beginning to take shape. As I mentioned before, after shading in almost the entire animal I've had to make several more shading passes to get the desired effect. This has been very time consuming but it's getting the drawing to the point that I find the most exciting. It's finally looking the way I've envisioned it. As you can see, I've added some red to the design and darkened considerably the shading to give it more depth and drama. I'm currently working on the foremost fin and will then begin shading the light refractions, followed by filling in the eye.

I've completed still more shading passes and blended in the light refractions to make them more realistic. Most of the shading improvements have to do with the "carved" areas in order to give them more depth and contrast. The drawing time is now at 307 hours and I believe the whale itself is complete. At this stage, I will let the drawing sit for a week or so while I look at it daily to see if there are any glaring weak areas that need refinement. After that, I'll put in the black background.

"Spirit of the Great Whale" is now complete. The background of india ink was brushed in with 5 coats and then 24 coats of fixative were applied to even out the finish. That gives the drawing a final total of 316 hours of working time; well worth it because I believe it to be among the best I've ever put together. The design itself has a wonderfully natural flow and balance that do justice to both the whale and its spirit.

You can find a full representation of this drawing by clicking "here" which will take you to the whale page. The prints for this piece are now ready in a signed and numbered edition of 550 with 50 artist proofs. Thanks for your interest in my work and I'll look forward to hearing your comments.

Note - The resolution setting on your computer may be keeping you from seeing this drawing as it actually is. The background for the drawing should be a solid deep black so if that is not what you are seeing, adjust your monitor's resolution to a darker setting. It's easy to do and you will like the difference you see.

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