1000 Gummy Bears

1000 Gummy Bears

This was a really fun project. I decided to embark on the task of drawing 1000 gummy bears as part of an eye drawing. I've done a number of eyes before but this drawing was unique because I needed to explore a texture that was entirely new to me.

A lot of planning went into this drawing. Firstly, I bought a whole lot of gummy bears. Then I used a paper lantern, sprayed it black and arranged the gummy bears over the rounded surface. I wanted to photograph the gummy bears on a dome-shaped surface to emulate the surface of an eye.

I began with the white highlights of the eye. I worked very softly with a combination of make-up sponges and pencil. I slowly built up the surface until I was ready to start with the gummy bears.

Because of the gelatin-like quality of the gummy bears, light passes through them very easily, which requires lots of work with light and shadow. I worked with a 2B mechanical pencil to slowly create the shadow in each gummy. I then used a Tombow Monozero eraser to bring out the highlights in each bear. I then added little scribbles to show the fleshiness of the gummy bear surface. I would then go over the area with cotton wool to create more layering, and then would pull back the highlights again. This was a really slow process but I think it created a much richer tone. Once I started to get into a rhythm, the gummy bears became easier to draw.

This drawing was a really good challenge for me because I started off having no clue how to create this kind of texture and really had to learn through the process.