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“Three Cats on Stairs” (Grace, Bonnie, and Morgan). My client's photo of Bonnie and Morgan waiting for her on the stairs to her bedroom gave Tammy the idea to portray her three cats on stairs. Grace and Bonnie are still alive. Morgan has gone on ahead to the Bridge. My final touches on the stairs: — After I created the wooden moldings on the front of each step (shared with you in a previous post), the stairs still looked too flat. So I darkened underneath the lowest stair tre

Colored pencil details on the wooden moldings on each step really brought them to life. At the very beginning I made an underpainting for the basic shapes of the staircase on pale grey paper: the sides of the stairs with grey watercolor, the shadow under each stair tread with grey wash, and brown for the wooden molding on the front of each step. The moldings were just flat brown, as you see on the left (BEFORE). Then I added highlights and shadow along the length of each mold

Tools of the trade Some tools I use often when laying out my pieces, but rarely while I'm working on the artwork: a “T-square” and a triangle. This T-square has a story. My first job, when I was out on my own at 18, was a trainee graphic artist working for a design firm in southern California. There was a commercial printer next door. A good quality T-square this size is expensive. The printer who purchased it said it was out of square 1/8 of an inch in 6 feet. That was 1/8 i

I've finished the stair cushions under the cats. They were custom-designed using photos of Tammy’s bedspread to see the colors in her decor, and the fabric pattern as inspiration. These captions give a detailed description of my thought process and what I did to make the colors and pattern work with the composition of three black-and-white cats and a staircase. 1 I’m using Tammy’s bedspread as reference for the colors she wanted. Mauves and purples are the main colors in her

Making a better portrait The cats are finished. Because of the perspective (stairs get smaller as they go farther away from you) each cat would be significantly smaller than the previous one. I made the cats closer to the size they would be to eachother in real life. That is not technically correct. But it makes a better portrait. The perspective of the stairs is mathematically correct, each step proportionally smaller than the previous one. Your “mind’s eye” tells you theref

Bonnie, the middle cat is finished, and I'm working on the third cat, Morgan. When Tammy asked for a portrait of her three cats and sent photos to me, one of them showed two of her cats on stairs. That gave Tammy the great idea for this portrait with each of the three cats on its own step. Two of the cats are still living, Grace and Bonnie. Morgan has gone ahead to the Rainbow Bridge. This is Morgan: “Three Cats on Stairs” (Grace, Bonnie, and Morgan) Commissioned by Tammy Cun

I love doing white fur on gray paper. It's so easy. The gray paper creates the shadows between hairs or clumps of hairs. Here's a closer view that shows what I'm talking about. White and two shades of light-grey pencils were used (French Grey 10% and French Grey 20%) to make the strokes that created the white parts of Bonnie's coat. The grey paper color was left showing to make the shadows between the hairs. I only added some darker grey in a few places like the center of Bon

Working on Bonnie, the second cat on the stairs. This photo was taken in the studio while I was working on Bonnie's eyes. The photo second from the left on the monitor is my main reference for her face. But I’m using the others to see eye color, and double-check the shape of her eyes. They have better color and better detail than the main photo. The more reference photos a portrait artist has of their subject, the better. One photo can be deceptive because of the lighting or

The upper cat, Grace, is finished. When Tammy asked me to create a portrait of her cats (two still living, one at the Bridge), a photo of two of her cats waiting for her on the stairs gave Tammy the great idea of showing the 3 cats on stairs. All three cats are black and white. The staircase was done with watercolor, an “underpainting” on the grey paper. The cats are colored pencil, and the details of the staircase and stair cushions will be colored pencil. Colored pencils ar

Working on the upper cat, Grace, in Tammy's portrait of “Three Cats on Stairs”. I had to make a composite of her head from different photos. When I questioned Tammy about the expression on Grace’s face and the position of her ears, Tammy wrote, “Very nice. Grace actually stands her eyes straight up when she is on alert, so that's good.” I thought that was an interesting way to describe it. Grace is definitely standing her eyes straight up! I saw that in her other photos too.

I finished the underpainting for the “Three Cats on Stairs” portrait. I often make an underpainting to tint the paper a certain color, then put details over that with colored pencil. In this case, the watercolor “underpainting” will create the staircase on its own. The cats and the cushions on each step will be done with colored pencil. All three cats are black and white. I’ve kept all the values of the staircase in the mid-range: from light grey to medium brown. The pure bl

Tammy Cunningham asked for a portrait of her three cats. One of her photos showed two of the cats on stairs, which gave her a great idea for the portrait. Stair steps with each of the three cats on its own step. I really like that concept. This is the initial line drawing, from separate photos of each cat. The stairs are based on the photo that inspired Tammy, but with a lot of changes to make the cats the central focus. That required figuring out the architectural perspectiv

I fell so far behind posting Wishes’ and Raven’s portraits that I didn’t get a chance to show you another one I finished in the meantime....

From 2000 to 2009 I created custom Christmas cards for clients from their own photos of their pets, with Photoshop. For the 12 days of...

People are so fascinated with how realistic eyes can look in artwork, I thought I’d share what makes them look so shiny and...

June 2 Started a new portrait of Tanner, an orange cat, for loving owner Tammie Wolf. First I created a detailed sketch on a very special...

Finished portrait of Tanner for Tammie Wolf. Tanner is a 3 year old rescue who loves to curl up and sleep with his big brother Doberman,...

Now I’m adding the blue and white blanket over Tanner. Today’s work was to do the fold that is to the left of his face. It was slow going...

If you’ve been following this portrait from the beginning, you know that my concept for this portrait is to do the bedding very loose and...

Continuing on Tanner’s face. The eyes are in now. Finishing the eyes always brings a portrait to life more than anything else. Here’s a...