animal portraits :D

so as a way to make some cash on the side, i will occasionally do portraits of people's animals for them from clear photographs. i used to do these in strictly colored pencil, but i've found over the years that colored pencil alone is not only pretty boring to look at but its also boring to use as a medium as well. so now i include a watercolor base in my portraits, with colored pencil layered on top to create detail. i find that it makes the image as a whole more effective. and now, here are some visual examples of how this is done:

1. Sketch


I sketch in the animal (in this case, a dog) and make sure all angles and proportions are correct. I try to sketch as lightly as possible, because the pencil lines will show through watercolor. Also, erasing dark lines on watercolor paper can be a nearly impossible task.

2. Watercolor
I put down the base colors in watercolor. I do the lightest colors first and then gradually build up to the darker ones. However, even the darkest colors in the photograph go down on paper as a light shade. I will darken them with colored pencil after. If I go too dark to start with and have to lighten for some reason, I'm screwed. But I can always go darker. I don't get too detailed with the watercolor, I just do basic shapes. I don't get into any individual hairs or anything, that's what the colored pencil is for.

3. Colored Pencil


I put in all the detail with colored pencil.: eyes, mouth, nose and fur. I feel like the mix between the two mediums gives it almost an acrylic or oil paint feel to it. I also blend the different colors together with Prismacolor colorless blender to make it look less grainy.

Detail:

so that's pretty much it. i think i spent about 3/4 hours in total on this one. the amount of time i spend on each portrait can vary greatly, depending on the size and the amount of colors involved. i never do them in one sitting either - i'm not a very patient person, haha. getting a hang of doing fur in colored pencil and just using watercolors in general can be pretty tricky at first until you get the hang of it. at some point in the future, i might do a more in depth tutorial on using each.

RIP Rosie. <3

matt pond pa - summer is coming