As I am working on a new pet portrait I thought it might be fun for you to see the process.
First the pet owner sends me various photos so that I can see the animal in various lighting situations, and from different angles. This helps to make sure I get a good sense of their coloring, stance, body language, etc. Sometimes I have to take clues from various photos. In this case, one particular photo was perfect to use as it was.
I love this photo and may paint it just for fun. But the person commissioning this as a gift is a vet and says she doesn’t really like ‘lolling tongues’. LOL
This photo shows a sweet disposition that I want to capture in the eyes. It also helps show the eye color and that Nikki is much more peach colored than the photo taken in bright sun conveys. But the angle isn’t so great for a portrait. It’s always better to get down to their eye level when shooting pix.
This is a beautiful photo, but for painting portraits I kind of like them to be looking into the camera. This is a great photo for using as a model for a dog in a more complex painting, however, as the fixed concentration is compelling. Notice how pure white this photo also shows the fur as sun washes out the peach tones.
As soon as I saw this photo, I knew it was near perfect. Great color, great stance, and that 3/4 turn is a classic in even human portraiture. A slightly lower eye level would have been great, but this is definitely easier to modify.
So now the next step is to crop the photo, and make a drawing using the grid method to make it the size of the canvas. This is the photo cropped how I want to paint it.
Once the drawing is transferred to the primed canvas, a value study underpainting is made which simply builds the form, allows me to reevaluate proportions without having color ‘get in the way’. Especially when painting light colored dogs, it is important to understand the values to see the form.
It also helps to publish on the computer because now can you see what needs to be fixed with the left ear? It is not laying down along the curve of the skull – will fix that when color goes on!
Next will come adding color and detail. Stay tuned!
