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Writer's pictureKevin Roeckl

Nadia portrait in progress 2

Updated: Jan 27, 2023

In my last post I presented the problem of how to put together Katherine’s three unrelated photos of Nadia.


Free-stacked Nadia in the upper left is finished. The other figures are drawn out with detailed outlines. Nadia’s Top 20 ribbon will be very large behind this figure. I did this figure in dark grey rather than a true black, to avoid having “three big black blobs” spaced out in the portrait. To do it in lighter “values” (lightness/darkness) I replaced all of the blacks with charcoal grey and made all the mid-tones a couple shades lighter than they would normally be. Her rust areas are more of a gold. It is still an accurate depiction of a black-and-tan Doberman, but it will create a more balanced composition to have this figure floating in front of the purple-and-yellow ribbon in softer colors. Both Hernan in his elegant white tuxedo and Julianna with her creamy skin and pastel dress and ribbon, will be pale groupings of soft colors. The weight of the two deep-black Nadias will anchor this diagonal row of lighter figures. And the bright Top Twenty ribbon with it’s long tails.


Colored pencil portrait of Grand Champion, Top Twenty Doberman, in progress


A balanced and beautiful composition is the foundation of any work of art.


This artwork is on “Flannel Grey” Canson paper.


To see the 3 reference photos I was given, and why creating this composition was such a challenge, check out my previous post.


Here's a closeup of the figure.

Close-up of portrait Top Twenty Doberman, in progress

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