My original pencil drawings are drawn on 100% acid free Bristol paper. I generally use a variety of pencils to achieve a wide range of tones, creating more depth and realism. 6B - 4B wood case pencils are used for the darkest tones and 4B - HB 2mm pencil leads are used in a clutch style holder for extreme precision. Although recently, I have been using the Kimberly 9xxB graphite pencil almost exclusively for the majority of tones. It's really nice for deep darks and glare/shine is pretty much non existent. It also produces very nice mid and light tones. I'm not really a traditional style blender ( i.e. stumps, blending sticks, etc.), but I do use these on occasion. The majority of tones and textures are usually created with just the pencil on the slightly textured surface of the paper. Its taken many years to refine my shading skills and develop a realistic and detailed style. I put a lot of time and energy into these pencil drawings! Consequently, they take me hundreds of hours spread over several months, so I can usually only produce 2-3 drawings per year, depending on size. On average they take me 200-400 hours per piece. The Race Horse Drawing, "Trifecta", took a little over 1,000 hours to complete. I often work from several reference photos and from real life when possible. The more of an understanding one has of the subject matter through actually feeling the textures, viewing from different angles and distances, knowing where the light source is and its effects, usually makes a more impressive rendering.

To make my work available to more people, I offer reproductions of my original pencil drawings as Limited Edition Giclee' prints. Standard Limited Editions are limited to 500 and Collectors Limited Edition Artist Proofs are limited to 50. They are printed with Epson Ultrachrome professional archival inks on 100% acid free fine art rag paper that is slightly textured, giving the artwork a nice energy. All Limited Editions are accompanied by a unique Certificate of Authenticity. Reproductions are produced at the full size of the original as well as smaller and a little larger on some images. My drawings are also available on premium fine art canvas as a "Gallery Wrap" on 1.5 inch stretcher bars at the full size of the original and slightly larger on some images. This is a nice option because it requires no framing, giving the work a unique and professional look without any glare from glass. The canvas gallery wrap may also be of interest to those running out of wall space, as they take up a bit less room without the added size of matting and a frame. If you are interested in an image on canvas that is larger than what is offered in my gallery, please contact me.

A Giclee' (zhee-CLAY), is an individually produced, high-resolution, high-fidelity, high tech reproduction done on a special large format printer and is becoming the new standard in the fine art industry. It is widely embraced for its astonishing quality by major museums, galleries, publishers and artists. Giclee's are produced from high resolution digital scans of existing artwork and can be printed on paper and canvas. Giclee's are superior to traditional lithography in nearly every way. They are so high-resolution that they are virtually 'continuous tone', rather than tiny dots, creating a very detailed and crisp image.

I am VERY impressed with the Giclee' reproduction! All of the detail, subtle tonal changes, and nuances that I work so hard to achieve are preserved, making it nearly impossible to tell the difference between the print and the original. The Giclee' is a little more costly than traditional lithography, but well worth it in my opinion!

Thank you! email: art@shelbybrannin.com