You did a wonderful job of capturing her likeness, Khisa! Tough paper and all, she looks very nice indeed. Her fur is laying just right, especially on the front of her chest and on her face, and the proportions look quite good, with the potential exception of her front legs which seem a tad small. You did a great job with her eyes too.

Did you notice that you've gone a tad in the impressionist side here? The first detail that leaped out at me from the actual photo was her eyes, and those are definitely the strong point here too, being slightly larger and well-defined. Her muzzle and whiskers are nicely proportioned as well. The ears aren't bad, not as strongly defined and emotional as her face, but well-proportioned and placed. :)

Overall, gorgeous work, Khisa! I'm honored that you'd choose one of my photos as a reference piece!

Well, thanks, yes, I realised the head is a bit too small and the eyes too huge therefore, but I did not want to work it over and over and feed my perfectionism once more. So the impressionism you found in the drawing... *cough* was actually more a flawed anatomy than purpose ^^"" - I noticed so many things, but until you pointed out that her front legs are too small I did not notice it >.< - so thanks to that.

-> need more practice!

Her ears gave me a hard time without a pencil eraser, as I did not get the fur right. I had one once, but it seems that it's gone like so many of my painting and drawing ressources (or my tools for repairing something in the house). They tended to vanish whenever my sister was around... :/

Thank you so much, and I hope that one day will let me use more of their pictures for drawing exercises when they find my results at least worth it. I'm glad I was allowed to use a picture. It's always a bad feeling to reference from a photo from the internet of which I know I am not permissioned to do so, but there are sooooo many pretty pictures. And I do not want to make money from them, either, just draw, learn and practice... *sigh*

Flawed anatomy or not, I found it most interesting. The features that were the most exaggerated beyond the ones in the photo are the ones that are most visually prominent. Her eyes, and her ears. Her legs don't make that much of a statement in the photo and are not particularly prominent, and they're smaller. I actually really like the result, it's a neat effect whatever the cause!

Khisa, is there any way I can help you with getting some more supplies? Some place I can order something and have it mailed to you? I'd really like to help, and if the problems are something as small as a good ERASER, I can definitely lend a paw! I have no idea what comprises good supplies or where to order them, do you have a local store you can purchase them in outright?

And you're welcome to use any of my photos at any time, you know that! If you'd particularly like to draw something that I don't have a photo of, let me know. There's a decent chance that I *have* a photo of it in my computer folders somewhere and I've just never uploaded it, or I can go take a photo if needed. I'm always looking for an excuse to pull out the Canon. :)

Thank you ^.^ - you do want to make me blush. Don't deny! :P

Well, I ordered some supplies, since I could not find my eraser pen anymore and I needed to make it up to 50 bucks anyway to get free shipping of the work board, I added a few things like new erasers (a pen and a kneading eraser), charcoal, graphite pens and a white pen (or whatever they're called in English). I would have loved to lay hands on a full set of sepia and charcoal pens or a set of Chinese ink again (all my nibs are gone, too -.- ), including nibs and a penholder, but that would have been to much (and not necessary). I did ink drawing at school and would have liked to get beyond a certain level. That was why I entered my art teacher's project group (my teacher was somehow very fond of me and my painting/drawing abilities or at least the potential that he saw in me) and he told me to feel free about all school supplies, but that if I wanted to learn painting in oil (what he recommended highly for me to try) I needed to get something for canvas, like cheap boards. Unfortunately I did not get any pocket money that time and my parents refused to give me some to get some boards for painting. So with my teacher's silent patience, waiting for me to bring some boards along (he did not ask any questions) I felt I had disappointed him and left the group after a while. Ever since I tried to avoid art somehow, concentrated on music instead. Until that time he had been the only person ever being fond of my skills or potential. I still feel bad about it.

And thanks about offering your photos, I know you allowed me to use them, it's just that I prefer to draw animals ^^""

Awrrrrr~ Blushing cheetahess! :D *Purrrs and pats*

I'm glad to hear that you've got some good supplies on order! It's a challenge enough to be learning and working your way up the skill ladder without having to be fighting poor equipment at the same time. Ink drawings have always fascinated me, there's a LOT of skill involved there, you literally CAN'T screw up or it's over! I've never even looked at the supplies for it, are we talking the range of the usual pens I see around here ~$10-20 or something else?

Having an opportunity fall through like that is one of life's little disappointments, sometimes there's just nothing you can do about it, you try your best and it just doesn't pull together. Best thing I've found to do with that kind of thing is count it as water under the bridge, and try not to dwell on it. There's always another opportunity down the road, just a matter of finding it. :)

You want to know something really bizarre? I just was hired for painting earlier tonight. XD Nothing as cool as you do, but I had a lady call me up and request that I paint the inside of her house. Just found that kind of amusing, the only kind of painting I know how to do. Prime the pump, clear the hose, mask the room, and start spraying. lol

Well, sometimes you can cheat a bit if some ink dropped at a spot you did not want to be any, but yes, it's difficult. Though, till it is fully dried, good ink is normally fully washable, so you might be able to take it off with a wet brush and cheat around it. Once it's dry there's nothing you can do, though.
Yes, make that to be 10-20€ and you know the price of the pens and sets of nibs included. The ink of course can be found at many different price ranges, from affordable to wtf-that's-a-14ml-tiny-bottle!

I don't dwell on the specific situation, but it's impossible for me to forget the overall-picture of opportunities fallen through, not because I had not wanted to take my chance, but because it was impossible for me. Not because my parents were poor people, they weren't, they just prefered to spend their money on more important things than me, ensuring me a 'childhood' that was pure hell. This is just a tiny facet of it.

Oh, I've painted people's interior when I was younger, too, it's very satisfying a work, you really know what you've done afterwards. And my brother's father was a house-painter since not everybody could afford to become an artistic painter. During those hard years around WWII he had to paint ads on houses, too, like signs for shops or whole pictures (no money for neon signs). At least it's in my brother's genes, he can draw really, really well, studied design in U.K. Though he now works in the marketing sector and has his own company.

Aww, I'd love to get to your place one day and try to take pictures of the many lifeforms around there, you must have a bazillion of different lizards and snakes and other reptiles! Insects and spiders, too. :D In the early morning, before it gets too hot, they should be active, shouldn't they? - but yes, a few rats, mice and coyotes might make up the majority of mammals there. Sounds nice for landscapes, though ;)

Your brother sounds like a darn cool fellow too, actually! I've always admired those people who painted signs on buildings, we had a lot of that around here too (western US town) when the place was being developed, there's some restored ones still down town, and a lot of awesome photos of them in the area museum. :D

Looks like it's going to be another few weeks before I start on that interior job I've got lined up, the lady had a few issues with the sale of her old house, the bank had some more paperwork they needed the buyer to do. Probably just another couple weeks, she's already picking out colours. XD

If you ever DO get over to the US, you're more than welcome to come crash at my place for a while. :) There's definitely a reasonable variety of insect and spider life, and there's theoretically scorpions as well, although I haven't seen one in the 16 years I've lived here. Snakes, yes, although you have to be rather careful in this area, most of the snakes you'll see out and about are rattlers. The scenery can be really breathtaking, though, especially some of the ridgelines with the giant basalt columns and the like. :)

Awww, thank you. I'd love to go hunting at your place - with a camera, of course. I'd stay up all night just to get to see every species around your place possible :D - soooo love to see a rattlesnake or two or more, and it would even be easy to find them, my body temperature would make them crawl up to me in the night :D (and no, I'm not too afraid of wildlife, I find humans are much more dangerous to me than animals). And breathtaking sceneries were just invented to be painted *nodnod* - or taken pictures of :)

Well, the snakes are easy to see, you don't have to do anything too special to see them. Just go to pretty much any of the canyon walls or the rimrock, find a rockfall, and start glassing for them. They're tough to spot, but they're EVERYWHERE. The whole area really does call for painting, a camera just can't do justice to the sweeping scenes, there isn't a lens made that can capture *enough* of it to convey the feeling. I suspect that a paintbrush could manage what glass can not in this case. :)

The photos are somewhat of a trick around here, actually. I live in eastern Washington State, in the US. Not particularly important, except that our part of the US is termed a "High Plains Desert". Means that it's the kind of terrain you see in most westerns. Hot, dry, lots of sage brush. Means that most of the animals around here are either domestics, birds, or nocturnal. :) Not really a whole lot to photograph, at least not in decent lighting conditions. Gorgeous terrain for landscapes, though, and sunsets that will knock you over. :)