A zillion ferns 🤣 in this portrait will soon be completed.
Previously I explained about adding green underpainting on both sides of the footbridge. I finished the ferns and foliage on the left side. Now I’m working on the right. These 3 pics show how those last leaves are filled in, with one last design challenge to be solved....
1
For the background scene, I worked my way downward from the top, filling in all the details of the forest with colored pencils over grey Canson paper. At this point I added a green watercolor wash to tint the grey paper green. The colors transition from warm greens (the pencilwork leaves) to cool, darker greens. This green underpainting will save work trying to cover every speck of grey (which is warm) with cool-green pencils. I left a few gaps in the underpainting where I want warmer green leaves.
Now there’s a design challenge:
I know from my reference photo that the leaves in this remaining area have a lot of dark green and black. But now they’re up against Shasta’s black back. How will I make her black body stand out from a black background?
2
To make Shasta stand out I made sure that the values “touching” her were either lighter or darker than her black coat. “Value” means how light or dark a color is. If Shasta’s back and the background leaves were the same dark value, it would be hard to tell where Shasta ends and the leaves begin. Since this a portrait, it’s important that Shasta stand out.
So I didn’t follow my reference photo exactly. In the photo there were no light-colored ferns adjoining the edge of her back. I made those a lighter value than her coat. In the reference photo the leaves were darker.
3
Shasta’s body is black, but there are lighter greys on her lower back and a splash of white over her hip. I was able to finish the foliage going into dark greens and black where it dips beneath the bridge. This little detail of the edge of Shasta’s back was something I planned when I designed the composition. I foresaw that black-on-black problem. So when I worked on Shasta I exaggerated the lighter greys of her lower back that I saw in her reference photo.
Then I was able to put black “behind” (adjoining) her black coat, yet there is a clear edge.
Not much left to go now. The footbridge is all that’s left to do. I already tinted it blue-grey in an earlier step, by putting a transparent blue watercolor wash over the grey Canson paper. I just need to add a few details over that with colored pencil. And a shadow under Shasta to tie her to the bridge surface.
🎨 Prismacolor pencil on grey Canson Mi-Teintes paper, with watercolor underpainting. 20 x 26 inches.
🐕 “Shasta”, a portrait of an Australian Shepherd.
Commissioned by Diane Barnes as a gift for her son and his fiancé.
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