First I had to finish around the mouth, this is where I left off last time...
Blending the new pen lines in to the old part of the sketch can be a challenge; applying too much pen will change the overall tones of the drawing, so I apply the pen very lightly, allowing me to carefully build up a shade to match the pen already laid down days ago.
With the white of the paper showing through in the mouth you can see just how dark the whole image is, which is the effect I wanted, the use of extreme light and dark (chiaroscuro) to create a dramatic form. The writing inside the mouth had been to put a reptile inside the open jaws but I couldn't think how to update this much-used image so I chose another creature...
... a rat. I still wanted to make a reference to something sometimes considered creepy or repugnant, to keep the imagery dark or sinister. The challenge is to create a visible image whilst still maintaining the correct shade values, the rat would be in deep shadow but still needed to be seen.
By creating the deep dark shadow in the mouth surrounding the rat I'm able to determine the shade values of the fur so that the rat is withdrawn from the light but still visible. I decided to leave a sharp highlight in the eyes, I'm sure the focus of the picture will be divided between the skull and the rat in the balance that I'm after.
I think the rat head looks good but it's still a little bright and so the focus shifts onto it too easily, it's distracting. It's at this stage I realise I've forgotten the shading in the left cheekbone, doh!
So having shaded in the cheekbone and darkening the rat's head but leaving his eyes sharp with a bright highlight I think I've got the balance right. I'm happy with how the whole image works and I've finally finished!
