Scout portrait in progress 1 - Designing a complex triple portrait

I'm starting a triple portrait of a Border collie, “Scout”.

This album show how I go about designing a complex portrait with multiple depictions of the individual….from the 60 photos of Scout that Annette sent to me. 

Scout is a registered Therapy Dog,

and also does barn hunt and is a dedicated Frisbee-fetcher. 

1

This is my outline drawing on a sheet of “Flannel Grey” Canson paper. It took 11 days of working with Annette on a layout design, to get to the point where I was ready to draw this composition on the actual art paper.

The following images show how I work out a complex composition like the one I am using for Scout’s triple portrait. I used to do all this in my head, or with rough sketches, but now I use Photoshop to arrange the pieces in different configurations until I find the right composition. That has to be done in collaboration with the client, following their wishes for the portrait. That process can take days. There is a lot of back-and-forth communication between artist and client during this phase. Each day I send new layouts, and then develop them further based on the client’s feedback. 

2

Annette had seen this portrait I did of Brenna, a triple portrait, and said she wanted one like it of Scout. She thought Scout’s portrait would look just like this, with two head studies and the sheep scene. Annette adopted Scout at age 5 and prior to that he worked in herding. Annette wanted this scene because it was so pretty, she said, even though she has not done any herding with Scout. Scout and Annette have their own accomplishments: they are a Therapy Dog team, and Scout also does barn-hunt and is a dedicated Frisbee-fetcher. So I guided Annette toward a portrait design that would be unique to Scout. I assured her it would be just as beautiful as Brenna’s portrait. 

I start with my client’s wishes, first and foremost. Two head studies and an action scene.

3

Before I start working on a layout I ask my client to send me all the photos of the subject that “speak to them”. That is the raw material I’ll be using to build the portrait design. Annette sent me 60 photos of Scout. 

Putting together a layout for a complex portrait with more than one portrayal of the subject, using the existing photos the client sent, is like putting together a puzzle. A puzzle where I don’t know if I have all the right pieces, or how (if) they will fit together, and I don’t know what the final picture is supposed to look like.

First, I have to find my puzzle pieces. 

4

I began by gathering the photos of Scout’s head I thought would make the best portrait. If it was a full-body photo I cropped to just the head, and sized them so all the heads are the same size for easier comparison. This is what I sent to Annette. The ones in the second row are “second choice” photos - I like the expression, but in one he is wearing a Santa hat and the other one was low-resolution and poor detail.

Annette had already told me she doesn’t like photos of Scout where his mouth is open and tongue is hanging down, and I ruled out several of those. (But I just had to include #2 where he is smiling. I was well aware that was MY ‘Like’, not my client’s.)

Annette responded, “I especially like #3 - he looks so natural and I think it is more pleasing than an intense frontal face. Before seeing what you have done, #1 was my favorite. Number 4 also has a natural and relaxed (not so "posed") look to me. I defer to your experience but I think a relaxed pose and not staring into the camera looks nicer.”

5

Next I gathered the most promising Frisbee shots that I felt were good “ingredients” for an appealing artwork.

Annette said, “Of the frisbee shots I like the ones on the ground better than the jump. I also don’t care for the football shot as well - he looks mean & the swimming shot disguises his beautiful body.”

That ruled out the three photos on the left. So I had the three photos on the right/bottom to work with. Some are very small without good details. But that’s what I have to work with.

6

Then I chose the most visually appealing barn-hunt photos. When I sent this to Annette for feedback she said, “The barn hunt are all good  - hard to pick among them!”

7

Next, designing the layout from those puzzle pieces.

I have 10 puzzle pieces: 4 heads, 3 barn-hunt photos, and 3 Frisbee photos. 

All the head photos and barn-hunt photos were taken by pro photographers and have excellent detail. It’s a luxury to have very good-quality photos to work with. The Frisbee shots were taken at a distance with a phone and don’t have good detail. 

First I started with a barn hunt photo that I thought was the best one to use: a depiction of Scout’s beautiful, trim body and shiny coat, and tried different head configurations with it. I made 5 variations of that with different heads, also trying different paper colors. (I’m showing you two of them.) 

The one on the right is on a straw-colored background paper color. 

8

Then I tried the running Frisbee photo, again with different combinations of head studies, and some different background paper colors. I made 5 variations of those. Three are shown here. 

A layout on grey paper….green paper….and sky-blue paper.

9

I had been pursuing Annette’s wish for two head studies, like my triple Brenna portrait she liked. 

Next I tried one head study with two action poses: one barn-hunt and one Frisbee. 

10

That made more sense to me. With the head study large and central. 

I tried different variations of that. Moving my puzzle pieces around, in different configurations, and different sizes. I made 7 variations of that.

11

One was a horizontal format for the portrait (this one). A vertical shape worked better for most of the configurations I came up with. 

12

Finally, on my 16th layout, I came up with this, and sent all of them to Annette.

She liked number 16 the best, but asked me to try the three-quarter view head of Scout rather than this frontal view. That was the winning ticket. 

13

Next we discussed paper color, which will be the background behind the head study. The background behind the action figures will be straw-color and green for the grass. We were 10 days into the layout process at this point and paper color was the final decision. 

I sent Annette 11 different background color suggestions. Six are shown here. 

I mostly concentrated on neutral grey, and sent 4 different greys, 2 two on beige or brown, 3 different blues, and a green. Those were the Canson paper colors I considered that gave a harmonious color scheme to the whole portrait (with the gold straw and green grass) and which I would want to work on for this piece. I had to take into consideration not just what would look pleasing and fit with my client’s wishes, but from a technical standpoint what color paper would work for my artistic techniques. Each of the paper colors presented different pros and cons. On a green paper, the grass would be easy to do. On a warm beige paper the straw would be a piece of cake. On the blues the straw would be hard, to cancel out the cool blue with warm golden colors. An any of the blues, the green, or the beige/browns, I would have a struggle to get a good clear white for Scout’s coat and neutral greys in the black parts of his coat, since the paper color underneath would “tint” those pencil colors. Any of the 4 greys would work the best for portraying Scout - a black and white dog….but would be more work to do that green lawn and the straw in the two action scenes — because I would have to completely cover the grey to get the grass and straw to look right. There is little or no grey in either of those textures.  

14

The final choice was Flannel Grey. I was very happy with that choice, it’s what I would chosen if the decision was left up to me with no input from the client. 

Annette is very decisive. She knew exactly what she wanted when I presented her with choices, and responded to each round of layouts quickly. That made the whole process go quickly and smoothly.

It took two days to draw this outline drawing on a sheet of Flannel Grey Canson paper. Now I’m ready to get to work on Scout’s head-study with colored pencils. 

🎨 Prismacolor pencil on “Flannel Grey Canson paper, 20 x 26 inches.

“Scout” - commissioned by Annette Riehle.

Reference photos:

Barn hunt photos by Jackie Singer, head study photo by Faith Lyman, Frisbee photo by Donna Childs.