Scout portrait finished!
Scout's triple portrait is finished. Below is what Annette wrote about her partnership with this amazingly accomplished Border Collie. Prismacolor pencil and acrylic wash on “Flannel Grey” Canson Mi-Teintes paper 20 x 26 inches. Annette wrote: “Scout has been an incredible addition to my life. I met him as a 5 year old, recently retired from a busy working life as a goose hazer protecting workers from angry geese. I have had 3 previous Border Collies but Scout has expanded my
Kevin Roeckl
Oct 31, 20253 min read
Scout portrait in progress 15 - The finishing touches...
When I was adding the colored pencil to connect these two scenes, fading the straw of the barn-hunt scene into the grass of the Frisbee scene, it was necessary to see the entire composition as a whole. So when I finished adding the straw in a way that felt like it looked good, to check whether it needed anything more I taped the artwork up on the wall of my studio, and stood back to see what the artwork would look like as the client would view it in their home. I saw then th
Kevin Roeckl
Oct 23, 20252 min read
Scout portrait in progress 14 - How to make straw
This album shows my technique for making straw in a scene. A whole lot of it. 1 In my last post, I had finished the Frisbee scene, and put in a bit of the straw detail around Scout’s barn-hunt figure on the gold underpainting. It looked like this: Next I have a whole lot of straw to fill in. If you read my post about barn hunt, you know that Scout is searching for rats hidden among straw. There will be a tunnel entrance below and in front of his face. That’s where you see th
Kevin Roeckl
Oct 16, 20257 min read
Scout portrait in progress 13 - A decision to make
The two action figures in Scout’s triple portrait are finished, and now I have a decision to make: Should I finish the grass around the Frisbee figure first, or the straw around the barn hunt figure? Pic 1 explains why that decision was important, and the rest of the pics show how I resolved it. 1 At this point the backgrounds are just flat color, no detail. You may remember I masked off the two action figures so I could do Scout’s black-and-white coat with colored pencils
Kevin Roeckl
Oct 4, 20255 min read
Scout portrait in progress 12 - Finally, the underpainting
Scout’s head in the barn hunt pose was slow going because it was so important to get his expression just right. I had enough time and energy left the day I finished his face to start putting in the straw around the figure. That goes much more quickly. It’s not necessary to be precise to what is in the reference photo. Now I have a decision to make. Should I fill in the grass next, or the straw…. I will finally be working with colored pencils on my underpainting. You may remem
Kevin Roeckl
Sep 30, 20251 min read
