Tern Sketch

My wife Eileen and I had a chance to go out and play with the terns for a bit the other day. This guy was processed starting with one of the sketch presets in Fractalious and worked to look like a charcoal sketch. I then cropped to a square and selected a tone from the wing area to use as a stroke for posting on a white page. I tried masking back in some of the orange on the beak and feet, but it just didn't look good to me. I added just a touch of a highlight to the eye so that it wouldn't dissappear. Did I get enough there? All thoughts are greatly appreciated as always.

Dave,

Greetings. Really good looking sketch. I think it's a bit tight with the square crop. I played with it a bit but couldn't come up with an aspect that's better, but did like it with a simple white mat. I would like to see a bit more of the eye. Good show!

Here's a matted version:

Attachment 114944

Cheers,

-Michael-

Your PP on this is beautiful, Dave. I only wish the tern was looking a little more in our direction or that there was something in the frame that he was looking at.

Thank you Michael and Maureen. I have to agree that the image does look better with your mat Michael and that is how I planned to display it. I would be framing with an ample mat border to surround the tern. I also agree that it would have been better with the head turned a bit toward us. I can never get these guys to cooperate. I haven't heard much about the HAP here lately but I guess I'm busted :e3

Dave, Beautiful high-key sketch look. I love the elegant pose.

Thank you Denise, I appreciate he thoughts

Dave, I love the pose and the charcoal look you achieved. It looks to me like the upper left corner background is a little grayer than the rest of the image. It could be my monitor which needs a good cleaning:e3

Dave, this is a strong piece...wonderful pose and processing...

Thank you Cheryl and John. No it's not your monitor Cheryl, I see that the ulc needs some more attention. Thanks