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Portrait of Scout continued from PART ONE   Scout portrait in progress 9   I’m not going to add the colored pencil grass details around the Frisbee figure until I finish the barn-hunt figure. The backgrounds of those two scenes - straw and grass - will have to fade/blend together at the edges. Since the portrayals of Scout are the most important thing, I want to finish the barn hunt figure first. Then create both the straw and grass backgrounds around the two action figures.

July 29 I'm starting a triple portrait of Border collie “Scout”. The following pictures show how I go about designing a complex portrait with multiple depictions of the individual….from the 60 photos of Scout that Annette sent to me.  Scout is a registered Therapy Dog, and also does barn hunt and is a dedicated Frisbee-fetcher.  1 This is my outline drawing on a sheet of “Flannel Grey” Canson paper. It took 11 days of working with Annette on a layout design, to get to the poi

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

Continuing Scout’s triple portrait. I’ve moved on to the second figure, an action pose - Scout running fast with his Frisbee. This one poses a dilemma: a blurry reference photo. Most people know me for my highly detailed, realistic style. I solved the challenge of using a reference photo that doesn't show any detail, by working in a different, more impressionistic style. The close-up of the pencil strokes in Pic 4 shows what I mean. A professional artist friend of mine often

How I made the underpainting for Scout’s portrait. I decided to do the underpainting after I completed Scout’s head-study with colored...

June 20 I’m starting a new portrait, of Raven. This is the 4th Border Collie portrait I’ve done for Cathy Nearman. Soon I’ll share more...

Wishes' portrait will be a challenging artwork. It’s not a complex piece, but it is a challenging one because of the values. (Value = how...

When I finish a portrait I tape it up on the wall of my studio, stand back and look at it, make an adjustment, stand back and look again,...

1 Raven's forehead and around the eye-socket on the left side are finished. I’ve put in Raven’s center white stripe down his nose as a...

Yesterday I had a debate on my Facebook page with Michael Joseph about whether copying a reference photo but changing things...

Prismacolor pencil on “Light Blue” Canson paper. In this piece I used the paper color as the primary color for the artwork. The sky is...

I had to create a “swatches map” to understand those tricky and deceptive values in Wishes’ face. I first showed you my swatches-map in...

In previous posts I talked about the challenge of the values in this difficult piece. In my last one I shared why capturing the...

Last Sunday I shared this as a “Happy Mother’s Day” greeting on social media. I thought you'd enjoy seeing the image on the full sheet of...

In my first post I explained why the values (how light or dark a color is) in this portrait are so difficult. The values will continue...

Wishes' portrait will be a challenging artwork. It’s not a complex piece, but it is a challenging one because of the values. (How light...

A man’s skin is darker and redder than a woman’s (typically) . So I am putting in some darker colors on Larry’s forehead. Continuing work...

I wanted to share a few of the photos I took while working in the studio over the course of Cooper’s portrait. With some...

I'm working my way down Cooper's body. This photo, taken in the studio while I was working, shows his body in progress with the pencil...

October 18 Started a new portrait of Lacy for Betty K. Here are 8 possible rough-draft layouts. Which is your favorite? Lacy loved the...