Tiger Cub

Tiger Cub

Just finished this colored pencil painting of a tiger cub using Derwent artist’s pencils.  The size is 9” X  12” on Canson heavyweight paper.  A photograph displayed on WildlifeReferencePhotos.com, a site that offers free photographs for artistic use, inspired this tiger cub painting.

I lost track of how many layers of color I actually used for the picture but I would say, at least 15.  For the eyes, I used different shades of green, yellow ochre, jasmine and white for highlights. The texture of the tiger’s fur is a combination of layered colors including yellow ochre, goldenrod, orange, various browns and yellows.  I used indigo blue, green, terra cotta, deep gray and black for the stripes.

The tree trunk that the tiger cub is resting on includes ochres, olive green, various shades of brown and black.  The sky is a wash of blues, greens, yellow ochre and white, which I left muted and blurry so that the tiger would be the main attraction.

"Soul Mates" Portrait

Here is a step-by-step 9X12 portrait of a little girl and her dog.  It was done using Prismacolor colored pencils on Canson heavyweight drawing paper.

I worked on an overall wash of indigo blue, leaving the lightest areas untouched. Next, I added dark umber to the grassy areas.  Using an electric eraser, I erased blades of grass and filled them with apple green, canary yellow, and white. I used the same greens for the leaves and darkened areas with more indigo and tuscan red.

 
 In this step, I began the dog.  He is a newfoundland/saint bernard mix. I began with the eyes and nose because I find them to be the hardest to work on.  Once they were done, I added fur direction to the face and body with indigo blue, dark green, and red.  I think layering the colors to make black gives more depth to the fur.

 Here, I began working on the little girl's eyes and mouth first.  I also applied a light layer of peach to the shadows in the face and then a light layer of cream and light peach over everything but the hair.  I left the highlights in the hair untouched and added a light layer of jasmine to the rest of the hair.



This is the completed portrait after applying many layers of color. I sprayed the finished painting with Lascaux fixative to preserve the colors.

Tree Swallow

Tree Swallow

This is my latest colored pencil drawing, a commission for a birthday present.

I used Prismacolors for the whole picture.  The background was done with true blue, dark green, and yellow ochre that I made into a powder with sandpaper.  I used a circular motion with a cotton cosmetic pad to spread the colored pencil powder.

I burnished the tree swallow and tree limb with a colored pencil blender but left the background unburnished.