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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...

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...

The expression on Scout’s face will make-or-break the barn hunt pose, the third figure in a triple portrait of Scout. 1 Doing Scout’s...

In my previous post I described how I used the grey paper color, which I had masked off when I made the green and gold underpainting, to...

I’m working on Scout's barn-hunt figure, the third depiction of Scout in this triple portrait. In these pics you can see why I masked off...

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...

Continuing Scout’s triple portrait. I’ve moved on to the second figure, an action pose - Scout running fast with his Frisbee. This one...

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

Almost finished with Scout’s head. I am not going to do any of his neck and shoulders until I complete the two action poses - Frisbee,...

This is my favorite “in progress” pic so far, with Scout's shiny black nose popping out of the paper! There are lots of detailed shapes...

How I made an eye... 1 I usually start an eyeball by creating the eye structures that are around it - eyebrow, corner of eye, eyelids,...

The first day’s colored pencil work on Scout’s head study. Today I worked on his ear and started across the top of his head. Tomorrow I...

I'm starting a triple portrait of a Border collie, “Scout”. This album show how I go about designing a complex portrait with multiple...

Daisy is a two year old rescue from our local Humane Society. It’s unusual for me to work for a local client and be able to meet and...

The choice of paper color makes such a difference in colored pencil art.  1 In my last post I showed all the many pencil colors I’m using...

I was going to finish both of Daisy’s eyes today but my yard guys showed up unexpectedly (2 hours early). I can’t concentrate when there...

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....

The portrait arrived in Hawaii! Handsome Raven, 10 years old, with his portrait not yet opened, along with “little sister” Wynter, the...