Pet Portraits: colored pencil
(Custom orders: bekmillhouse@gmail.com)
Meet Franklin, the spunky French Bulldog from Brooklyn, New York.
If you look closely into his right eye, you'll see the Manhattan Bridge reflected.
Below, I start work on Franklin's muzzle.
I lay down the initial base tones and then add the characterful liver spots.
Not only is there a great deal of color variation in this area, but also incredible amounts of texture.
I use a technique called 'ghost lining' to create the whiskers.
What a handsome young man!
Ready for his close-up... The longer, white whiskers were added at the very end with white and grey gouache and a ruling pen. Nerves of steel required for this final touch!
All done as seen on my desk.
Following is Plum, the Red Heeler rescue dog from Western Australia. I work from high resolution photographs and have a cheat sheet available for clients who need that extra guidance on taking optimum photographs for translation into pencil portraits.
I fell immediately for Plum's gaze. I see the Australian sky reflected in her glassy eyes.
I swear Plum winked at me during the process of adding final details around her dog tags!
All done. Yes I use a magnifying glass at times to really define those details.
Below is Mimolette... the Mastiff puppy. Her name comes from the coloring of her coat and its similarity to the french cheese: mimolette. She looks like an old soul with those big eyes and stare.
Easy to get lost in the details... I'm looking forward to the next stages.
