Comparing photo to drawing

Now comparing my drawing to the photo that I took, some people may be amazed how close my drawing resembles the photo while others may think I'm crazy that I spent 4 1/2 months drawing somethings when I could have just printed the photograph, frame it, and be done with it. What do you think?

Completed Salt Lake Temple Drawing

After finishing the temple the only thing left was to shade in the landscape and the sky.  As a last finishing touch, which was the funnest part, I added a little white charcoal on the temple as a highlight and to guide the eye.  After 4 1/2 months of drawing, it is finally finished!  Now looking at the finished drawing I believe I can say that I accomplished my goal of producing the best drawing up to this point in my life.  Now I'm excited to do something even better.  My Salt Lake Temple Drawing is now available for purchase by going to my website. http://shaunandersongallery.com/

Next Step: Shading

Once I had the outline drawn onto my board, the next step was to shade it in which is not much more than coloring in a coloring book.  The only difficult thing is to make sure I shaded in the correct value (range of lightness to darkness)  In order for it to look real it it critical to shade with the correct value.  It took me another 2 months to finish the shading for this drawing.  Later that night after I finished the shading of the temple, I noticed the date, it was October 24th.  I then realized that it took me exactly 4 months to draw the temple.  I found that ironic since it took the pioneers 40 years to build the temple.  After spending 4 months drawing the temple I have such a great respect for the craftsmen that spent 40 years building this magnificent structure.  I hope this drawing is an appropriate tribute the pioneers' work and sacrifice.

Salt Lake City Temple Outline Drawing

Once I had a photo that I was pleased with to use as a reference, the next step was to draw the outline and transfer it to my drawing board.  The drawing is done in 2-point perspective.  The challenge that I had to over come was the distortion caused by the camera.  The temples that I drew previous to this project were completed within a month but it took me 2 months just to draw the outline of the Salt Lake Temple. Getting the outline drawn correctly was by far the most challenging part of the whole process. 

Salt Lake City Temple Photo

I have been wanting to draw the Salt Lake Temple for quite time because I have always been attracted to the Gothic style architecture and the stone cutter's detail.  My hope is that this drawing would become the greatest piece of art I have produced up to this point of my life.  To product a great drawing I first needed a photograph that would work as a reference to look at.  I knew what I wanted before I took the picture.  I wanted the North East view of the temple since the Angel Moroni is on the East side.  I also wanted one side to be in light and the other side to be in shadow thus creating a contrast of light and shadow.  I visited Salt Lake in April but the sun was not far enough to the north so both the North and East side of the temple was in shadow.  I visited Salt Lake again on June 24th for my sister-in-law's wedding.  As I sat in the temple that evening I realized that if there was any time during the year that the sun would be high enough to the north, it would be now since June 21st is the day that the sun is the furthest to the North.  A few minutes later, I walked outside the temple and was so excited at the sight.  The sun was in the perfect location creating a perfect light and shadow on the temple.  I quickly ran across the street to my car which was parked beneath the Conference Center, grabbed my camera and took the picture that you now see.  The picture was taken on June 24th 2011 at around 6:00pm.

Idaho Paints Idaho Competition

I am using this photo as a reference for my next project.  I am entering an art competition called, "Idaho Paints Idaho"  The "Best of Show" award recipient receives $1,000 but that is not my main motivation for winning.  The judge for the art competition is Scott Christensen.  If you read my bio on my website, you will read that Scott Christensen is one of the three artists that I idolize.  To personally receive an award from Scott Christensen would be like Kung Fu Panda meeting the Furious Five.  My goal is to paint something some amazing that people will go blind because of its pure awesomeness.
The title of the painting will be "The Valley"  I title it that because the residents of Teton Valley have so much pride in where they live that it is not just any valley, they call it "The Valley."  The reason for my choice in subject matter is because I have spent much time in Teton Valley and have grown to love it's beauty.  My grandparents live in the Teton Valley and so I have many childhood memories there.
I will first paint a small study, probably an 8x20" to get my drawing, values, and colors right.  Once I finish that I will then use that study as a reference for a much larger painting, probably 4 feet wide painting.  Continue following me on my blog to see the progress of this painting.

Which temple do draw next?

The next temple to draw on my quest to draw all the temples will be the Rexburg temple.  My reason for choosing the Rexburg temple next begins over a year ago.  It was Christmas Eve 2009, at Edwards Theatre in Idaho Falls.  I was eating some popcorn when all of the sudden a chunk of my tooth broke off.  I didn't have any dental insurance so I just ignored it.  As time went on, the pain got worse and worse.  I was finally scheduled to have insurance on March 1st.  All was well until the last week in February.  The pain became so intense that I could not focus on anything, couldn't sleep, and couldn't wait any longer for insurance so my wife scheduled an emergency visit with the dentist.  When the dentist finished giving me a root canal, he was so kind to offer lowering the cost because of my lack of insurance.  I asked him if he would accept a drawing or painting of his choice as a trade for fixing my tooth.  He gladly accepted after seen some examples of my work.  He asked for a drawing of the Rexburg Temple and a landscape oil painting for his dental office to hang in the lobby.  I will be starting the drawing tomorrow, Monday March 14th.  Follow me on my facebook page and watch the progress.

I am on a quest to draw every LDS temple around the world.  It is a big goal since there are currently over 130 temples world-wide and each temple will probably take me over a month.  Because I grew up in Idaho Falls, I chose to start my quest with the Idaho Falls temple.  I started this drawing in the middle of December and didn't finish until the middle of February.  When I go around selling my drawings, one of the most common questions I am asked is, "how much time did that take you?"  Most drawings take me around 25 hours to accomplish but this drawing took me around 75 hours.  I chose to use a cream colored board to draw on because every drawing I have seen of LDS temples are drawn on white paper and I never thought it was a good idea to draw a white temple on white paper.  I thought it would be more powerful to add white accents by using white charcoal.  Do you agree with my choice in style?  I would like to hear feedback from you.  If you are interested in this drawing, I will have prints available soon.