As all my wildlife artworks, which are not many, were mostly created for a purpose. This coloured pencil artwork of the Malayan Tigers were created specially for the live auction in support of Save Wild Tigers event, https://www.thedatai.com/events-and-occasions/live-auction-in-support-of-save-wild-tigers/ .
Since the very beginning, I have made it my mission to contribute to good causes with my artworks whenever I can. That is IF, the organisers think my artworks are worthy enough.
I did my very first tiger artwork back in 2019. A collaboration with a dear friend from Florida who is a great wildlife photographer and also a talented colour pencil artist. It was with his kind permission and support that I was able to re-create his beautiful photo of the tigers and contribute to the local Malayan Tiger conservation organisation http://sharonsskow.com/2019/09/03/bzui-berisi/ .
This time around, I went on to challenged myself by taking my own reference photos of the tigers. And the only place I can think of was the national zoo. I did made a trip to the National Forest Reserve but NOT to try to take photos of free roaming tigers! Would not even dare to think it!!! I think the zoo will be a much safer bet, right?
So with great enthusiasm, armed with my faithful DSLR, I coaxed my youngest brother into driving me to the National Zoo first thing in the morning. I knew that if I wanted to get good photos of the tigers, it was best to be there before feeding time. And true enough, by the time we got there at 9:30am, every species in the zoo was out of their hiding place, making loads of noises waiting to be fed.
When I got to the Malayan Tiger enclosure, I felt super gung-ho and energetic. I wasted no time trying to take as many photos as I could. Walking up and down, stretching, bending and whatever position I had to be in order to get ‘perfect’ shots of them. In my head, I imagined myself to be like some professional photographer by using manual mode. The manual mode!!!! Oh how wrong I was! By the time I realised my mistake, which was almost an hour later, I was drenched in my own sweat and feeling drained from the heat and humidity.
In about 50+ shots that I took, half of them were blurry. It slipped my mind that the tigers were hungry, impatient for food and could not stay still. So I got shots of nice body postures but with blurry faces. With this experience just in the zoo, I cannot imagine those wildlife photographers out there in the wild. What patience and skills they have. They definitely have my highest respect. Wildlife photography? Best left to the professionals.
When it was time for me to get working on the tiger, I sat in front on my laptop for days! Yes, days, just to sort out all the photos that was taken. I had so many ideas in my head, picturing all kinds of compositions which I could create from all those photos. With the help of the most basic Photoshop, I managed to create some that are quite close to what I imagined in my head.
I decided on a minimalist approach with this one. Instead of putting the main subject right smack in the middle, I placed the two tigers slightly off-centred, leaving almost half of the surface blank. Truth to be told, I do not know why I came up with such composition at that moment. But I just knew somehow that it felt right and the answer to that will come eventually.
I am using my favourite paper, the 300gsm hot pressed Arches water colour paper. In order not to mess up the expensive paper, I did all the basic line work on a plain paper, using the grid method to enlarge the subjects. I then traced out the outline on the tracing paper and transfer onto the Arches.
The paper is slightly off-white because of its natural cotton fibres content. I could just leave the blank area as it is, without applying anything but then again, I was trying to be adventurous. A friend suggested that I use watercolour or pastel on the negative space to get a clean white shade. I thought it was a great idea to do a mix media but after much thoughts, nah… I guess, after 10 years into coloured pencil art, I am still very much a purist with this medium.
And so I got creative, with colour pencil. I use the White (Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer), shaved the lead and dissolved it with water and applied using a flat wide brush all over the negative space. Really made sure I covered every blank space of the surface and left it to dry for 24 hours. That did the trick.
Before I start working on the tigers, I thought I better take precaution and keep the white areas as clean as possible. Cannot afford to be careless because accident do happened. Using flip chart paper and masking tape, I carefully covered the entire area.
With this piece, I decided to only use the Faber-Castell Polychromos. Compared to other brands, such as the Derwent Lightfast and Caran D’ache Luminance, Polychromos pigments are slightly ‘earthier’. And since there are no background to compete with the main subject, I felt that the subject will stand out without being too jarring or too orangey.
Most people think that I literally draw out every little bit of the fur. Boy, if I were to do that, it will take me ages to complete. It is not as tedious as it looks, really. What I did here was first lay down the tones and values of the tiger’s body, section by section. Instead of drawing out every strand of fur, I highlight it by lifting the pigments using the Tombow Mono Zero eraser. To further enhanced the highlight of the furs, I used the pencils, according to the tones, to create the darker value beside the highlighted areas. This technique softened the whole look of the furs and would not appeared looking stiff or rigid.
I could have filled the empty space with lush greeneries depicting the tigers in their natural habitat. Or maybe some abstract forms or colours just to give it ‘oomph’? But something about the tigers’ expression ‘say’ more than that. They neither looked fierce, intimidating nor of fear. It was a look of curiosity. As though they were straining to listen and try to figure out something far away. Then suddenly, just like that, the word ‘echoes’ came to mind. And from that, the story of this piece began to fall into places.
Now, writing the artist statement… Hmmmm… always almost very intimidating. But I was very very lucky to have a dear friend, who is a renowned local art curator helping me with it. His description of my Malayan Tigers piece is spot on. Cannot thank him enough taking the load off my back with the statement.
Echoes…
– Ivan Francis
The deliberate omission of lush greenery in the vast spaces surrounding the tigers serves a purpose beyond mere aesthetics. It directs our gaze squarely onto the expressions of these magnificent creatures. These tigers neither wear the intimidating mask of predators nor the visage of fear; instead, their countenances reflect a profound curiosity. It’s as though they strain to hear distant whispers or peer into the mysteries of a far-off world – perhaps the echoes of their ancestral forest home. Yet, it is precisely this uncertainty that hangs in the air, raising questions about their future. Will they, like the fading echoes, eventually become mere memories?