Focus WIP - Part 3

This is the latest step in "Focus", the colored pencil cougar that I am currently working on. Dimensions are 15" x 21.5". This photo shows the piece with the entire background done, leaving the foreground and the cougar left to finish. I find it much easier to do a background first, as the cougar will have hairs that extend over top of the background, which can easily be done by layering with the pencils. The struggle with this piece is maintaining the varying levels of camera focus in the piece, from distantly blurred (in the sky/trees) to close, but still fuzzy (the rocks/snow just behind the cougar), and next will be the foreground (more snow and rocks), which is mostly in great focus, but also blurs as it approaches the bottom of the image (closest to the photographer). I also find that the blurred backgrounds tend to look disjointed or off somehow when not put into context by a focussed foreground - meaning that I usually am unhappy with how my background looks until I finally put a foreground in. It makes it all come together and it is then easier for our eyes to place the blurred background where it is supposed to be - in the background! I must admit that I am excited to be able to work on the cougar soon - the animal of the scene is always the most enjoyable part to work on, which is part of why I leave it for last. I will post again soon with a look at the foreground in progress.