Fire in her eyes, and the music I listen to in the studio, the “playlist to her soul”. (Read the captions)
These 5 pics show how I constructed Zelda’s head.
1
The eyes are the focal point of a portrait. "The window to the soul" as they say. Zelda has a strong spirit and fire in her eye. It was very important to capture that in Zelda's eye and expression.
This pic shows the eye finished. I spent my studio workday just on that. It had to be perfect. The next ones show the progression of creating her head, to capture Zelda’s strong spirit.
FOR ARTISTS
After I finished the area around Zelda’s eye, I began connecting the base of her ear to her cheek, so I can continue filling in the forehead and work forward from there down her nose, doing all the black areas of her head before moving on to the rust areas.
2
The second day’s work on Zelda’s face.
I’ve filled in the rest of the black coat of her upper face, and then was able to connect the section I had done previously on the front of her lower neck, as I added in the shadowed curve of her lower jaw — with dark browns and deep earth-reds, since that is the rust-colored part of her face, not black. All of the parts of an animal’s anatomy (including humans’) connect to one another. We have names for separate body parts, but they are not separate from eachother.
3
This is how the whole portrait looks now….
Zelda, a Top Twenty show Doberman, has an almost flawless silhouette.
4
I continued working down the top of her nose to complete all the black parts of Zelda’s head. Then started on the rust areas.
FOR ARTISTS
Since this artwork is on a mid-tone green, the outer edges of Zelda (where they meet the green), have to be either darker or lighter than that green, in order to stand out and be visible. On most of a black Doberman’s body, the edges are darker than the green. The top of her back where light was falling from the sky, was lighter, almost the same value (lightness/darkness) as the green. So I darkened it to make her beautiful top-line stand out. (See previous pic) But on the top of her nose, where the skin is shiny, it would not have looked realistic to darken it that much. So I exaggerated the highlights to make sure it would stand out from the green. Otherwise her nose would have faded into the background when viewed from a distance and looked like the front of her face was missing. To stand out from the background, the edges of a figure have to be either lighter or darker than the background.
When I’m working on a section of the body that contains a lot of complex shapes that have to be connected to one-another, I usually complete the outer edges first, as you see here on the underside of her head and throat. That “contains” the shapes and gives me the correct values — in this case the shadowed areas under her mouth and chin — which guides me on the values and shapes as I work inward and connect all the other structures (shapes and colors) of the rust areas of Zelda’s head. Her cheekbone, lips, and muzzle with it’s rows of whiskers.
As you can see, I aded the little dark “pits” where a dog’s whiskers come out, on the front of Zelda’s muzzle. Those are the darkest shapes there, and give me a “road map” to add the mid-tones and lighter values and shapes in that complex area.
After I worked my way around the edges putting in the correct colors and shapes: the top of her nose, her nose, the front of the lips, her chin, the bottom of her jaw, then I fill in the interior orange/rust area, guided by the colors and values of the outer edges, connecting all the shapes together as I blend the pencil colors into one-another.
5
Zelda’s head finished.
Three day’s work. I went slowly because her face, her expression, and especially her eye, is so important.
“Fire in her eyes, and the “playlist to her soul”:
The music I listen to in the studio is very important to my work. Especially on the day I’m working on the eyes, I specifically listen to music that I consider the “playlist” to their soul. I have Apple Music (for iPhone) which I play through speakers in my studio. I’ve made over a hundred custom playlists - I create one for each portrait I do. With AppleMusic I can either start an existing playlist playing, and I know the mood and “feeling” it’s going to give me. Or I can choose a specific song for that individual and start it playing and when it’s finished AppleMusic gives me others that fit that style and mood. Sometimes I am amazed at how they fit the specific individual I’m working on. It’s like the “soundtrack” to them. A lot of times it’s as though the spirit of that person (human person or dog person) has “sent” me the songs that go with their eyes, their essence. Or sometimes it seems like the soul of the client who loves them has sent me the soundtrack. As though the songs are what the client’s heart wants to say to their loved one.
When I was listening to a particular song called "Mountain Hymn” there is this line that repeats that says “See the fire in your eyes". I could hardly see to draw through fighting back tears. I get really connected when I am working on someone's eyes…especially when it is a special heart Doberman like the ones I have loved and still miss. Like what Diane has with Zelda.
I sent the pics and my words about Zelda’s “soundtrack” to Diane. She responded:
“OMG – I seriously got choked up just reading the email and then I scrolled down to the updates… I’m almost “ugly” crying right now… SO beautiful and SO Zelda!
Thanks again for all of the heart that you are putting in to this project.”
"Zelda"
BISS TT GCHS CH Lookout Tawee v. Radiant CGC, WAC, Top Twenty contender 2018
🎨 Prismacolor pencil on “Light Green” Canson Mi-Teintes paper, 17 x 20 inches.
Commissioned by Doberman breeder Susan Ramos as a gift to Zelda’s owner Diane Tennison.
From a photo by Susan Booth.
Comments