Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.
Did you ever have a moment when you really were in danger?
When I was a youngster, I drifted past the breakers on a raft unbeknownst to the ever-watching eye of my mother. I don’t believe I knew how to swim very well, if at all. I remember there wasn’t much sound out there. I saw my mom on the shore waving her arms and jumping up and down. You know when your mother is really pissed-off and yelling at you and you can’t hear her, you’re in serious trouble. That scared me. I remember the lifeguard who swam out to my rescue. He had a smile on his face and acted like he swam out to play with me. Not only was I not in trouble, but I made a new friend at the beach. It’s really good to know there’s people like that out there. He could have easily yelled at me or have been a doosh, but he wasn’t. He was just happy to see me. My mother, on the other hand, had mixed emotions.
In this sketch, I’m playing with the fore, middle and background. The horses head (foreground), has darker outlines and lighter highlights, making it the focus of this piece. The horse and rider in the background are much lighter and less defined, giving it deeper atmospheric perspective and the rider’s head and body are a keen mixture of both. I left the bottom half of the horse and rider sketchy to balance out the sky around the horse’s head.