Here’s the current progress on my miniature drawing of Molly the cat. If you’re screen resolution is 1280 x 800, you’re seeing this drawing at about actual size.
After creating a light line drawing on my paper, I brushed value into the background because it’s easier to create a soft edged texture, like Molly’s fur, over a background that’s already there rather than the other way around. Then I hatched in Molly, even though the background is not completely done.
Because I’m working from such a contrasty photo reference, I’ll have to carefully balance values as I work, playing the background values against Molly’s until they look like some version of reality. I suspect the reality I come up with will be somewhere between what I actually saw and what the reference shows me now.
I love this drawing already. I hope I can honor it by drawing it well.