My cousin has this really cute dog (Daisy).
Rabbit Trail: Daisy is so sweet and sensitive, and will sit by you for as long as you'll pet her.
End Rabbit Trail.
Anyway, my cousin asked for a pet portrait. I took some (not very great) photos of the painting process in case I wanted to blog about it.
I want to blog about it.
So, here's Daisy!
I was given several photos to look at. I mainly drew from two of them, using the ear language of one, and the facial position of the other.
(Oh, and please excuse the weird lighting. Yeah...I did these first steps under lamplight.)
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Since I painted this on a canvas, I used the "opaque" approach with my acrylics, as opposed to the "transparent" approach.
(With the first method you use more paint, and go from darker to lighter layers of paint. The second method uses less paint because all you do is start with light washes, going from lighter to darker layers. But the transparent method works better on watercolor paper than on canvas, I've found. Hence my opting for the opaque method.)
Whew. Anyway, moving on...
Okay, so I started with my good old rake brush, blocking in the main colors, brushing the paint in the direction of Daisy's hair. For the eyes, I started by painting them flat black...
...then I added more details and colors. In the eyes, I brushed opaque brown on the underside and dotted some white around the top. Then I finished blocking in Daisy's fur. | | | | |
Next, using a detail brush, I added lighter strokes of paint to the fur to imply depth. The tops of the eyes I lined in a mix of blue, white, and black to give Daisy her adorable eager look.
Okay, another day here, and better lighting.
I repainted the background in a more shale-like color, to create better contrast.
Finishing up, I added even lighter shades of brown to the fur, always stroking my brush in the direction of Daisy's fur. I deepened shadows and lightened highlights.
(A note on shadows: it took a while, but I finally learned that when doing shadows on animals with white areas, it helps to mix in a little of their other color - in Daisy's case, brown - to the "shadow" color of your white area - which would be white and black - in order to make the whole picture mesh together. Does that make sense at all? If not, pretend this parenthetical insert was never written.)
Added yet more highlights, shortened her neck fur (to make her look less shaggy), gave her a few whiskers (I love that part), finished her collar, and signed my name.
And we're done here!
Thanks for popping in, folks!
Yours truly,
Callie
