Albino Bullfrog
How long will it hold still?
It’s the size of a plucked chicken, and about the same color.
Giant albino bullfrog, sketched pencil and white gouache.
It’s alive, it’s breathing, but otherwise motionless in a museum terrarium. It seems to be tracking me, even though its eye isn’t moving. I wonder how long it will stay still.
I draw him in pencil on gray mat board, and then apply a thin layer of semi-opaque white gouache. I save the brightest whites for the accents and highlights. When the gouache is thoroughly dry, I lightly drag a white pastel pencil over the surface to make the texture look bumpy. Then I switch back to darks, using a 6B graphite pencil to smudge in soft shadows, accent the wrinkles, and drop a few freckles and speckles on his back.
After 45 minutes I’m done, and right then the frog decides to hop away.
This frog sketch is on page 122 of the new edition of The Artist’s Guide to Sketching. The original is on exhibit now at the Starr Library in Rhinebeck, NY through the end of March.
I used to draw a lot at the zoo, my days off were during the week. I was surprised at how many of the animals, birds, even reptiles, tended to hold mostly still for long enough to get a good sketch - or move but come back to a very similar position. People watching would comment on it too. "Look, the eagle's posing for her."
what a wonderful synchronicity!