Friday, October 30, 2009

Corvus Corax or Common Raven



Sketch of a Raven for All Hallow's Eve... eve.  :P

(The term Halloween, and its older spelling Hallowe'en, is a shortening of All Hallow's Even - e'en being short for even, which is short for evening.)

Why a Raven?  As a carrion bird, Ravens became associated with the dead and with lost souls.

3 comments:

chris newberg said...

Niiice. I like. So do you draw from memory when you do your sketches or from photo or a little of both?

Jennifer Kearney said...

Thanks, Chris! Hmmm, Well... for things that are from life, like this raven, I do a little of both... start sketching my idea, then maybe go to a reference of some sort just to double check things sometimes. I have to say, though, that I've studied things in nature SO much, (and watched SO many nature/animal documentaries) that I try to do most things like this from memory... my, uh, visual vocabulary warehouse. :P As for rendering things that are imagined... I do just that - render from my imagination + what I already know about anatomy, structures, etc. ;)

Jennifer Kearney said...

I will add, however, that I definitely use reference when drawing/painting something or someone that definitely NEEDS to look like the actual thing, person, place, etc. for obvious reasons.