For this drawing I chose to use a photo I had taken of a snow leopard at the Albuquerque Zoo. The sketch (which is too light to see very well) took about 45 minutes. The sketch has to be perfect. Rollover the steps to the right to see them enlarged with an explanation.

I started with the eyes. The lids and pupils were done with charcoal, while the irises were done lightly with the 4H graphite. For the darkest areas of the face I used the 6B charcoal, blended with the blending stump. The lighter areas were done with the 2B charcoal and blended. I followed the direction of the fur except on the bridge of the nose, where I used small circular strokes. I also indented the paper where the white whiskers will be.

I only lay down tone at first, then when the whole head was finished I went back and added highlights with the kneaded eraser. In some areas of thick or coarse fur, like the paw, I went over it with a 3B graphite to add texture. This stage is about 1.5 hours beyond the first step.

This step is more of the same. Aside from doing the head first, I am working left to right because I am right-handed. When I draw in ink, I like to lay out the whole thing, add all the detail, then go back and shade. With charcoal, I want to get the area I am working on finished without having to go back. I don't want to risk a smudge.

I am pretty much finished with the leopard at about 7 hours. Again, this step uses the same procedure as the last one. After finishing the torso, I did the tail and then the leg to minimize the chance of smudging. I sit on this overnight to see with fresh eyes if anything needs tweaking.

I began the rock with a layer of 4B graphite using the side of the pencil, then blending it with a tissue. It gave the graphite good coverage while not being uniform. Some of the texture shown through. I then added little chips and holes with the 6B graphite, and increased the shadow in some areas with the same pencil. I blended the crevasses with a very narrow stump. This step took about an hour.

I had to go in with a kneaded eraser to get the highlights. I also added scribbles with the 3B and 6B graphite pencils and smudged with a tissue. I decided I needed to see the black background to finish the rocks properly. The black background is two layers of 6B charcoal in a crosshatch pattern and blended with a tissue. The change of tone of the background changes the appearance of the foreground. I am closing in on ten hours here.

The dark background is complete, with five layers of cross-hatched and blended charcoal. Now I can start the finishing process. I have added shadows and highlights to the rock and blended it into the background. All that is left are the finishing touches.

Here is the final drawing. In this last step, I just touched up the rock on the right side and added some shading. Mostly the changes are only visible while viewing the large version. Total work time: 12 hours. (The slight variation in light you see between this step and the previous is a result of different lighting conditiongs while photographing the work.)