Captain Jack portrait in progress - start to finish
- Kevin Roeckl
- 4 days ago
- 9 min read
April 9
Starting a portrait of Captain Jack, a black and white Pomeranian, for Sindy B. This shows the detailed outlines I start with.
In Sindy’s photo Captain Jack was holding a biscuit and she wanted me to leave that in. It is part of his personality. I’ll share more about that later.
I know people are going to ask me how I get these outlines. I use a digital projector. I trace the outlines with colored pencils, in colors similar to what I will be using there, not with graphite pencil.
The crop marks for a 10 x 12 inch portrait are marked on the paper. I always work on larger paper than the planned size, in case the finished work calls for cropping it a little wider or taller.
🎨 Prismacolor pencil on “Flannel Grey” Canson Mi-Teintes paper, 10 x 12 inches.
Captain Jack portrait in progress 2
Working on Captain Jack’s ear. This portrait will be mostly in black, white, and various greys. Except for the tan biscuit he’s holding, and his brown eyes.
A limited palette of mostly grey pencils for this one. Warm greys, cool greys, and French greys. And of course black and white. Captain Jack is a black and white Pomeranian.
Captain Jack portrait in progress 3
Left eye finished. His bright, cheerful eye.
Sindy cried when I sent her this pic. Captain Jack was her best friend for 16 years and constantly by her side as she went through cancer treatment and recovery.
Captain Jack portrait in progress 4
You can see all kinds of shapes in the lighting and reflections in an eye. Capturing them accurately is what makes an eye look real.
In the photo, the shape of the bright reflection in Captain Jack’s eye was clearly a window.
This closeup shows how much complexity there is. I used multiple shades of browns (chocolate brown, rust brown, mahogany, sepia), greys, blue, and black in the iris of this eye, in addition to the highlights: white, pale grey, light blue, beige.
When I’m working on the eyes in a portrait, I always zoom in on the reference photo to see all the detail.
2
These are the Prismacolor pencil colors I was using for Captain Jack’s coat. Warm greys, Cool greys, French greys, Sepia, and Ultramarine blue. And of course black and white.
3
This is how the portrait looks now.
It takes a lot of concentration to do a detailed eye in a portrait. In one studio-day that might be all I accomplish. The eyeball and the surrounding structures that attach to it: the eyelids, corner of the eye, the eyebrow and the small hairs around the eye, flowing into the bridge of the nose and the cheek.
The left side of Jack’s forehead was already done. In the studio today I completed the eye and eyebrow, and the coat to the left of the eye overlapping the long fringe of hair from the left ear.
It's ready to start tomorrow morning by working my way across the bridge of the nose - the area that connects the two eyes.... and tomorrow I’ll do the right eye.
Captain Jack portrait in progress 5
Captain Jack’s right eye is finished.
Today I worked my way across the bridge of the nose, the area that connects the two eyes. I have to pay attention to getting them even and level with eachother.
Putting in the symmetrical bridge of the nose helps with that. The black area, that is; below that the bridge of his nose is white. The black area, it's shapes, help me place the inner corners of the eyes. Since Captain Jack was looking squarely at the viewer, the corners of each eye are equidistant from the center-line of his face. That's not often the case with portraits, when the subject's face is turned slightly more to one side than the other.
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The right eye is more shadowed than the left. The lighting on Captain Jack is coming from the left. So the colors and reflections in the two eyes are not the same.
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A close-up of the right eye showing the colors I used. Mostly very dark browns, and some warm and cool dark greys, ultramarine blue, and black. Pale grey and a muted mauve for the sclera (the white portion of the eye)...with just a touch of red-brown.
Some of these shapes are smaller than the sharpest pencil point. It takes a very fine touch to keep them accurate. That bit of red-brown was the merest little dot with the tip of a pencil-point.
4
The Prismacolor pencil colors I’m using, and Sindy’s photo on the monitor in front of me as I’m working.
When I sent Sindy these pictures of Captain Jack’s sweet little shining eyes, she wrote back,
“Made me cry again.”
Captain Jack portrait in progress 6
Captain Jack’s forehead and right ear finished. Now working on the intricate detail of his white muzzle and nose.
Next, the biscuit. There is a story about why he is holding that biscuit. I’ll share that in my next post.
INFO FOR ARTISTS:
Some colored pencil artists make whiskers by applying dark pigment (on either side of the white muzzle in this case, then using a sharp tool to scratch off dark pencil pigment to reveal lighter paper. I make whiskers with colored pencil, as you see here, making them lighter than I want them, then when I add the dark pencil around them, going lightly over the white whisker darkens it to the value I want there. Otherwise the whiskers will look too thick and too prominent. I don’t want whiskers to be a major feature of the face.
Some colored pencil artists make whiskers by indenting a white or light-colored paper with a light color. Then rubbing the darker pigment over the indentation, not into it. I feel Prismacolors are too soft to indent paper that much, and this paper color is a bit too dark in value to work well for that anyway.
Captain Jack portrait in progress 7
This is how the portrait looks now. Captain Jack’s face is finished. Next, the biscuit. There is a story about why holding that biscuit is part of Captain Jack’s persona. Read Sindy's words below....
Sindy wrote:
“My daughter had four dogs when we added Captain Jack to the pack. He was much smaller than the rest. Over time, he would gather "all" the dog's toys and horde them under pieces of furniture where the others could not get them. Later in life, he would steal the other chews or bones. If he was chewing on a bone and you moved him, he was always laying on a backup. I found an unsprung mouse trap (I didn't have mouse traps) and a random spoon under my bed. I have never figured out where they came from although I did see him sneak into a neighbor's house once.”
Captain Jack portrait in progress 8
How I chose the colors for Captain Jack’s biscuit. There is no specific “biscuit” color in Prismacolor pencils.
1
The pencil colors I’m using for the biscuit and my test swatches on the same grey paper as Captain Jack’s portrait.
There is no one color that matches what I need for the biscuit - the light, mid-tone, and dark areas. So I will have to blend some of these colors. In colored pencils that’s done by layering light layers of color, one over another, not by mixing up a specific color of paint. The colors are “mixed” on the paper.
That’s one of the things that requires the most amount of practice by beginner Colored Pencil artists.
2
Ready to start on the biscuit…
Pencils on the left are the ones I’ve been using for Captain Jack. On the right are my biscuit colors and swatches.
My reference photo is on the monitor. It looks far away and small because of the camera angle, but it’s a large monitor so I can see all the details.
3
Starting the biscuit from the left where light is hitting it. The lighting on Captain Jack’s portrait is coming from the left, as you can see from the colors I used on his white muzzle. White, cream, and very pale grey pencil on the left side of his muzzle, beige and cool grey on the right (shadowed) side.
This little patch of biscuit-color is already a blend of several pencil colors. Beige, pale orange, yellow ochre. And just a touch of mauve to tone it down so it’s not too bright.
4
Continuing to work my way across the biscuit toward the darker end, working it in amongst the small hairs and whiskers on Captain Jack’s upper lip.
I’ve outlined the right end of the biscuit with black and dark brown to delineate the edge of the biscuit. Captain Jack’s coat behind that end of the biscuit will be solid black. By making an outline “outside” of the edge of the biscuit, I can see how the values of the biscuit colors play against that black. That helps me be more accurate with the colors and values than if I was trying to judge them against the light grey paper. The biscuit will be darker than the paper-color on the shadowed end of the biscuit. But much lighter than the black coat behind it. These relative values can fool an artist’s eye. Putting some black down adjoining the edge of the biscuit helps avoid that.
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The biscuit finished.
Photo taken in the studio....
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A scan of the artwork made after I stopped work for the day.
Scanning the artwork gives a more accurate image than photographing it with a phone.
I’m pleased with how the biscuit turned out!
This will give some color to a portrait that is otherwise mostly black and white and shades of grey, except for Captain Jack’s brown eyes.
Captain Jack portrait finished
Captain Jack, best friend of Sindy B. for 16 years.
When Sindy first contacted me about a portrait, she told me Captain Jack had been constantly by her side through her cancer diagnosis and treatment. She sent me a photo of herself with a bald head from chemo, holding Captain Jack, with their two faces pressed together.
Sindy's story about how Captain Jack came into her life is below.
"All her life, my daughter, Austin, wanted to be a vet - this ties in later in multiple ways.
When Austin was a Sophomore in high school, she needed a new pair of white flip-flops from Old Navy, so I went to the mall. I paused at the pet store, I'm not really sure why. I saw this tiny black and white ball of fluff. Well it was love at first sight, I'd like to think for both of us - then I found out how much he cost. I left the store thinking well "I'll think about it" and went to Old Navy to get the flip-flops. A lady came into Old Navy, she had been playing with one of the other puppies. She told me that the store had just dropped the price $200 for the puppy I had been playing with and they were calling people to notify them. Needless to say, I grabbed the flip-flops and rushed back. To me, it was a sign, Captain Jack was coming home with me. When I got home, Austin told me she promised him she would find him a home and she did. Captain's first puppy visit led to Austin's first job for a vet.
Austin had four dogs when we added Captain Jack to the pack. He was much smaller than the rest. Over time, he would gather "all" the dog's toys and horde them under pieces of furniture where the others could not get them. Later in life, he would steal the other chews or bones. If he was chewing on a bone and you moved him, he was always laying on a backup. I found an unsprung mouse trap (I didn't have mouse traps) and a random spoon under my bed. I have never figured out where they came from although I did see him sneak into a neighbor's house once.
From Austin:
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My favorite game to play with Captain was hide and go seek! We had so much fun with me telling him to sit and stay while I hid around the house and then would call him and he would come find me. I started out hiding in easier spots and over time would hide in harder to find spots such as behind clothes hanging in a closet, on top of the bed or on another floor in the house and sometimes I would even cover my mouth to muffle my call to make it seem I was hidden farther away. He was always so happy when he would "find" me. We had so much fun playing together.
2
Austin's first paycheck.
We got Captain when I was in high school. Not too long after, I started my first job. I would bathe dogs at the local groomers that would groom Captain and our Scottish Terrier. My first paycheck was $40 paid to me in cash......Captain ate my $40! I was devastated. He never really got into things or chewed them up. I do not know what possessed him to eat the two 20 bills left out in my bedroom! Thankfully, he passed the full bills the next day - EWWW!"
Note from Sindy: Austin posted an index card outside her bedroom door about 7 inches off the floor that said "Must be taller than this to enter". He was banned from her room for a long time.
"Captain Jack", commissioned by Sindy Boyles.
🎨 Prismacolor pencil on “Flannel Grey” Canson Mi-Teintes paper, 10 x 12 inches.
6 weeks later...
Sindy sent me photos of the portrait framed. A set of notecards is included with the portrait. She had one of them framed in a shadow-box with Captain Jack’s collar. I thought you’d enjoy seeing how lovely that turned out.
Regarding the main portrait Sindy wrote:
“I hung the portrait above my chair, it felt like the right place. We spent my home time sitting in the chair especially when I was going through [cancer] treatment. It is surrounded by photographs I took in Iceland, my favorite place in the world. The shadow box is on my jewelry box going out of my bedroom door. Both make me very happy to see.
I can’t thank you enough.”
"Captain Jack" is a HEAD STUDY portrait, one of my 5 portrait types. You can learn more about my types of portraits HERE.
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