I completed this Shiba Inu portrait with Prismacolor colored pencils. It is 8X10 on Arches, 140 lb., hot-pressed, 100% cotton paper. The true-life colors in the portrait are slightly lighter than the computer shows and the background has is more of a sky blue.
The background for the pet portrait has layers of sienna brown, sky blue light, blue slate and true blue blended with a stiff pencil brush. I used both circular strokes and cross-hatching.
The fur has layers of cream, jasmine, yellow ochre, goldenrod, sand, burnt ochre, terra cotta, clay rose and white. I lost count of the number of layers I put down on the paper. It's got to be at least twenty.
For the dog's nose, I used indigo blue, dark umber, cool grey 90%, black grape and black for the darkest areas.
I began the brown eyes with a layer of jasmine, then added burnt umber, sepia, cool grey 90%, canary yellow and white.
This is a colored pencil portrait of my grandson, Sam. The picture was taken on his first birthday and I thought it would be a wonderful keepsake of that special day.
The portrait painting is 9X12, created on Canson heavyweight drawing paper. I used Prismacolor colored pencils for most of the portrait with a few Derwent coloursofts.
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This is an 8X10 portrait of my daughter's Great Dane, Odin. He is 160 pounds now, at least the last time I checked. His weight goes up daily it seems. The reference photo I used to draw the portrait was taken when he was about 10 weeks old. I gave the finished puppy portrait of Odin to my daughter as a birthday present.
When I began working on the background, I decided to try oil pastels, rather than colored pencils. I wanted to keep the background light, so the pastels worked out well for that. They were also a lot quicker than doing the whole background with colored pencils.
I completed the background after drawing in the rough sketch of the dog, then began with Odin's eye. I used a combination of colors including: jasmine, goldenrod, yellow ochre, burnt ochre, dark umber, indigo and shades of gray. I darkened the rim of Odin's eye with indigo, sepia, dark umber and terra cotta.
The fur on the dog's head and back took many layers of colors. I layered cream, jasmine, yellow ochre and goldenrod for the lighter fur. For shadows like the wrinkles ontop of his head and around the ear, I layered goldenrod, dark brown, tuscan red, burnt ochre, sienna brown and black grape. I also used peach for the area between his toes, as well as cream and white.
I had to make sure that the shadows and highlights remained visible to give shape to Odin's snout. I find black dogs or black areas difficult, so I really have to be aware of the shadows and highlights that are going on. To make the black areas in his snout have depth, I used many shades of gray, for instance French greys in various tones and cool greys. I also used layers of indigo, black grape, dark purple and lightly added black for more definition. These are the colors I used for the dog's nose, as well.
I applied four layers of workable fixative when I thought the portrait was done. After looking at it for awhile, I decided to add more layers of color overall to deepen the tones. Workable fixative is great because it allows you to make adjustments afterward. If I had used a permanent fixative, I would not have been able to add extra colors.
Take a look at the Step-by-Step slideshow that displays how I work with Prismacolor colored pencils and the color and fur progression.
