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With portraits it’s important to get every little nuance accurate, so that person looks like themself. But no face is perfect and sometimes there are little flaws in the reference photo that does not make them look their best. It’s an art in itself to know what to edit in a portrait. I once did a portrait of a woman, and her husband asked me to remove the lines on her neck that I had included. “Let’s be kind”, he said. Learning from that experience, when I did a portrait of

1 At the beginning I sent this Photoshop layout to show the clients how Cooper’s portrait would look, fading out at the base of the neck. Brandon wrote: “I know it’s right in that fading area, but one of the most distinctive features that I always appreciated about Cooper were the hair whirls on his chest.” 2 I sent Cooper’s photo back with this area circled and asked: “Is this the area you mean? Do you want anything below that included? The shoulders on either side of the ci

Some of the challenges a portrait artist has to solve: “hair whirls” on Cooper’s chest, and seeing what’s under a bow-tie. 1 When I began working with Rina and Brandon, I sent several layouts for Cooper’s head study portrait (made with Photoshop) from 3 favorite photos. This was the one they chose. Brandon asked that I remove the bow-tie, and make the fade-out at the bottom of the neck lower to include Cooper’s unique “hair whirls”. I’ll tell you about the hair whirls in my

This progression of a day’s work in the studio helps show how I construct a canine portrait. Three scans of today’s work…creating the nose, lips, and muzzle of a copper-colored dog. The captions describe my thought processes. 1 To begin, I added the back corner of Cooper's lip, and that was where I started bringing in some of the more pink and peach tones. Outlined the dark edge of his lips and nose, so I could add that central “split” that runs up the front of a dog’s nose,

The “soundtrack” to a portrait…. Yesterday I shared how I read the client’s words about their loved one before I start on the eyes. Another thing that helps me connect with the loved one is the music I listen to in the studio.. Having the right music playing is very important while I’m working, the “soundtrack” to that individual, as it were. On Apple Music I have thousands of songs in a variety of custom playlists I’ve created. I choose the playlist that seems to fit the es