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Titan’s portrait is coming along. I added a favorite collar from a different photo Alicia sent.  More stories from Alicia about this funny, joyful boy are below. They explain what you see in Titan's big happy smile. Alicia wrote: “Titan rarely took anything seriously, he was goofy, cheerful, and just a bit mischievous. I used to joke that he was too light‑hearted to stay down for long. He loved being the center of attention and, if he were human, he would have been the class

Small nuances in the expression are what make a facial expression and capture character. I know that Titan is a funny dog, who loves to make people laugh. The line in the middle of this tongue is not a straight line. Anybody who knows dogs really well can see that Titan is being as happy and silly as he can be. You can see it in the way he is holding his tongue.  1 I created the line in the center of Titan's tongue with four different colors. 2 This is the reference photo I’m

I often hear Colored Pencil artists say they won't use Prismacolor pencils because they are not lightfast. But that’s not true. Prismacolors have lightfast ratings 1 through 5. 1 is “Excellent”, 2 is “Very Good”, 3 is “Good”. That compares to other premium colored pencil brands that are known to be lightfast. 4 and 5 are “Fair” and “Poor”. Some artists just remove those colors from their Prismacolor collection. Still, Prismacolor makes 150 colors, more than other premium bran

This is the incredible story, both heartbreaking and heartwarming, that Alicia told me about the reference photo we’re using for Titan’s portrait. It’s the reason we switched direction with how to capture the essence of him.  1 This is Titan’s portrait in progress. There’s a reason for the decision to use this particular image. Titan passed away unexpectedly last year while I was starting on a memorial portrait of Wishes for Alicia. Alicia and husband Joe considered adding Ti

Working on a portrait of Titan for Alicia McCarthy. You may remember when I worked on the beautiful memorial portrait of Wishes for Alicia last year. While we were still in the beginning design stages, Titan passed away unexpectedly. For a while Alicia asked me to switch direction and we began looking for photos to include Titan in the same portrait. But Alicia and Joe made the decision that Titan deserved his own portrait. His personality is completely different than the sof

I'm starting a new portrait, of Titan for Alicia McCarthy. This portrait has a very touching story to it. I’ll share that with you soon.  Titan’s portrait will be more than just a head study, as you will see. I’m working on “Sky Grey” Canson paper. A beautiful paper that has little flecks and fibers in it. I like using that for a portrait on a plain-color background, it lends interest to an otherwise plain, flat background color.  ❤️  Portrait of “Titan”, 16 x 20 inches. Comm

If you've been following my portrait of Annie.… after the portrait was finished the clients asked me to create a custom Christmas card from Annie's portrait by combining it with the portrait of Briscoe (Border Collie) that I did for them last year. I combined them and customized it in Photoshop by changing Annie's "princess collar" to holiday colors, and added the Santa hat on Briscoe. It made a fun Holiday card! I thought you’d enjoy seeing it. 🎨 Both portraits were created

One of the great things about doing portraits is getting to know the wonderful dogs my clients love. Annie is one of those. I have done 10 portraits for these clients, Carolyn, Gloria, and Tammy. Each of the three women shared more with me about Annie, in individual emails, then they have with any of the other dogs that have graced their lives. Below the portrait is what they told me about Annie. From Carolyn: “Annie is a small Weston terrier mix of some sort. She was origina

Making a fade-out at the bottom of a head-study portrait can be tricky. Sometimes I use Photoshop on the client’s reference photo (or on my layout if I’m combining more than one photo) so I can see where to make the fade out. How far down the neck or body to start the fade so it makes a pleasing overall composition with the subject’s face as the most important feature. Sometimes I fade out the bottom very carefully, as though the realistic detail is becoming fainter and faint

In the original photo Annie was wearing a bandana, which the clients asked me to remove. I asked if they wanted a particular collar on her, or no collar. Carolyn requested that she be wearing "a princess collar because she is a princess”. I photographed my Sara’s “party collar” and sent the clients two rough Photoshop layouts, with suggestions of either pink or turquoise, which I felt were good colors to compliment Annie's coloring. In the artwork I straightened out the bow r

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving or Indigenous People's Day. I took the week off from my artt studio to fill the many orders that came in for my 2025 Doberman Holiday/Christmas cards . Now back to work on Annie's portrait. Annie’s cute face is finished. Next her turquoise “princess collar”.  🎨 Prismacolor pencil on “Felt Grey” Canson Mi-Teintes paper. 18 x 23 inches. "Annie" in progress Commissioned by Carolyn Martini, Gloria Kehoe, and Tammy Cunningham. This is the 1

Quite an interesting mix of colors in Annie's nose. Light yellow ocher, dark yellow ocher, cool mauve, warm mauve, grayish pink, orange, rust, chestnut, warm greys, cool greys, chocolate brown, sepia brown. And of course black.  Most of the pencils on the left are the ones I’m using for Annie’s coat. They live on a piece of clean white paper that I move around where I need it (and an eraser that keeps them from rolling). I add another sheet of paper (and eraser) with a differ

Annie’s eyes are finished. I never get tired of doing eyes, because the colors and reflections in them are so interesting.  What do you see in this eye? This is the right eye in the client’s reference photo — extracted from the rest of the photo so you can focus on just seeing what is there. Focus on the colors, the shapes, and the values (value = lightness/darkness). All those unusual shapes on the eye are the reflections of what was in the environment around the dog. Often

Yesterday I shared Annie’s left ear finished and pointed out that a white coat is easy to do on grey paper. Some light-colored pencil strokes for the hairs.…and the shadows between the hairs make themselves.  I continue using the paper color... Carolyn responded to this in-progress picture: “Look at my pretty princess!!! She’s looking pretty!!!” 2 Check out how much grey paper is showing around Annie's eye. I never get tired of doing eyes. Because the colors and reflections i

I'm starting on a portrait of "Annie" for Carolyn, Gloria, and Tammy. This is the 10th portrait I have done for them over the past 28 years. The pencil colors for her white and cream-colored coat, and the pink inside her ears: Once again I'm letting my paper color do the work. A white coat is so easy to do on grey paper. Some light-colored pencil strokes for the hairs.…and the shadows between the hairs make themselves. 🎨 Prismacolor pencil on “Felt Grey” Canson Mi-Teintes pa

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

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

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

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

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