Shiba Inu Portrait

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.