Daisy portrait in progress - start to finish
- Kevin Roeckl
- Aug 11
- 4 min read
April 25
This is Daisy, a 2-year-old mixed breed rescue, owned by Kathy and Mark H.
For Christmas 2024 Mark gifted Kathy with the promise of a portrait of Daisy. (I provide a custom Gift Certificate to give on the occasion.) This is the second portrait I’ve done for them.
The first portrait I created for Kathy and Mark was in 2019. A portrait of Summer, Brandy, Bacon (Cavalier King Charles Spaniels) and Butters the cat.
This quadruple portrait is an example of my “Little Jewel” portrait type, a simple portrait done in a looser style when the client’s photos don’t have much detail. It’s my most economical portrait, a popular portrait choice for people to give as gifts.
April 25
Daisy portrait in progress 1
This is the first “in progress” scan I made of Daisy’s portrait when I started working on it. I was able to visit and meet Daisy in person. It’s unusual for me to work for a local client and be able to meet the actual dog. She is very sweet and affectionate. When I sat on the couch she got up next to me and wanted to hold my hand with her paw. But she was on the front porch doing her job, protecting her family from strangers, when I first arrived. Just as you would expect from a mixed-breed who has Malinois in her heritage. Good girl, Daisy!
It really helped to have the chance to observe Daisy's coat color in real life. I memorized the color in my mind when I was with her. Daisy’s coat is an interesting color that’s not exactly like any Prismacolor pencil color. Kind of a caramel color: something between yellow ochre and rust, with a sprinkling of other color hairs in it. It took a variety of pencil colors to capture it.
Daisy portrait in progress 2
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 are mowers and weed-whackers roaring outside my studio! The eyes are the most important part of a portrait and I need full concentration to do those.
1
“Steel Blue” is one of Canson’s newest paper colors. This was the first time I’ve worked on this color. Daisy’s golden coloring really stands out nicely on it. But when a colored pencil artist works on blue paper, they have to compensate for that with more pronounced red or orange tones in a figure. Colored pencils are a “transparent medium”: the paper color shows through and influences (changes) the color of pencil you put over it.
Daisy’s coat is an interesting color that’s not like any one Prismacolor pencil color. Kind of a caramel color: something between yellow ochre and rust, with a sprinkling of other color hairs in it. It took a variety of pencil colors to capture it.
2
In this close-up you can really see the variety of pencil colors I was using for Daisy’s face.
And how close I was to filling in the most critical part of her eye(s). I had worked all the way up to the eyeball itself. I hated being interrupted when I was right at that point and had a momentum going on the eyes.
This closeup also shows the short pencil strokes I was using to portray her fur.
3
My working pencils.
Daisy portrait in progress 3
The choice of paper color makes such a difference in colored pencil art.
Daisy's eyes are finished now, and nose. Across the top of her nose I used a lot of the blue paper itself for the color.
I really like the way she is popping out of the blue paper.
Paper color makes such a difference.
Daisy portrait in progress 4
Daisy’s face was a bit of extra work because she has a sprinkling of lighter hairs through all her dark areas.
Adding Daisy's black muzzle....
This close-up shows the pencilwork.
The blue paper shows through in places: the top of her nose, the grey areas of her muzzle. That provides some blue and grey color without having to use pencils for it.
Daisy portrait finished
When working on colored paper, all of the edges of the figure have to be either lighter or darker than the paper color. If you want it to stand out clearly from the paper.
Notice that all edges of Daisy's ears, head, and neck are either a lighter or darker value than the paper color. If that wasn't the case in my reference photo, I make it so in the artwork: I will either lighten or darken an edge if I need to, to make it stand out.
🎨 Prismacolor pencil on “Steel Blue” Canson Mi-Teintes paper, 12 x 16 inches.
Commissioned by Mark H. as a gift for his wife Kathy.
"Daisy" is a HEAD STUDY portrait, one of my 5 portrait types.
Learn more about my portrait types HERE.
