Luminance – a collection of animal drawings in white pencil

This collection is not for the faint of heart; it is for the bold.

For those who know what they want and aren’t afraid to take risks to get it, the brave souls who aren’t afraid to go on a perilous quest to find their true heart’s desire.

The ones who are comfortable with being uncomfortable, who can deal with staring down a bison before breakfast.

Those fearless adventurers who do it with passion, or not at all. Who like their coffee so dark it’s infernal.

This collection is for when you want to make a bold yet refined statement – to match your temperament.

Immerse yourself in these pieces that demand your attention.

Put one of these on the wall and you’ll get a WOW! from anyone walking by.

These are animal totems for the modern human.

Totem animals are the animals we feel a very strong connection with and that influence us throughout our lives.

In shamanism, an animal totem is a representation of the traits and skills that you embody. Or a goal and a roadmap for you to develop them within yourself as you grow.

The spirit of the animals is strongly present in each piece, and these drawings help you evoke the wild power of your spirit animal.

The observer effect.

The uncomplicated composition is designed to evoke the spirit of the animal and allow the viewer to perceive the inherent power within the animal.

I want you to be drawn into the work, take a moment to breathe in, breathe out, and just observe. Immerse yourself in exploring the artwork – and by extension yourself.

The observer effect tells us that when we observe something its nature changes.

But as we change that which we observe, we are also changed by the act of observing – this is why it’s so important to take a moment when looking at these pieces: to allow the totems to work.

The real star is light itself.

I wanted every piece to feel like the animals are emerging from darkness, being created from black formlessness at the moment that you view them, making you the co-creator of that power.

As if you were waiting for an omen, and as you look up you suddenly see your power animal!

Only those surfaces that are touched by the light are visible to you, everything else is hidden, the black background pulling in the eye.

I chose to draw them in a variety of white and grey pencils on black to maximise the contrast, and achieve the subtle changes in the light I wished for.

Meticulously working out how much light each area and each texture should be exposed to, I drew every strand of fur and feather individually.

The goal was to create dramatic artworks with a presence that cannot be ignored.

Creating an illusion.

What was interesting for me was playing with negative space to indicate shapes.

How do you make dips and grooves that are not illuminated look like they’re still there?

Even when an area is in complete darkness, it should still not feel empty.

By using gradients of light – ranging from highly illuminated areas in stark white to dark greys at the very edges – these works get a three-dimensional feel and it creates the illusion that they’re coming out of the paper.

Click here to buy prints in my shop.