Colored Pencil Demonstration of cat - How to do Backgrounds Colored Pencil Tutorial

Backgrounds are the bugaboo of many artists, especially those who work in colored pencil, it seems.  Just check out the colored pencil forum on wetcanvas!  People spend hours on their subject and then worry about what to put behind it...and worry they will ruin it!    The trouble with working subject, then background is that the background colors and values affect the colors and values of the subject.  The background should support the subject, not the other way around.  And, waiting til last to do the background makes for uninspired ones. 

 I consider the background to be all the supporting parts of the piece, the foreground, the area immediately to the right, middle and left of the subject, and everything behind it.  In this case, both the chair and the wall behind are, to me, the background.  They support the main focal point, the cat.

Now I know why people leave the background til last, especially in a time-consuming medium like colored pencil.  Because when I was starting out, I did the same thing.  You are worried that you'll spend hours on the background, only to fail at producing a nice looking subject!  Well, if you use a hard paper like Mi Tientes and have your white eraser handy, you have many bites at the subject "apple"! 

Some tips on how to erase colored pencil:  Just keep going.  The wax pigment will first smear, keep going.  It will ball up and you can brush it off.  For tight spots, go the the drawing department of the art store and get an eraser encased in wood that you sharpen.  Mine has a pink eraser.

Not all papers are erasable.  I put a hole in stonehenge, it's a soft, printing paper and that's one of the reasons I don't like soft paper for colored pencil.

Now, at this stage you can see, I've added more layers to the background.  I want it to be dark, yet warm, so I've layered a dark red (Prismacolor's Black Cherry), along with browns.  What is not quite so visible is that while I've been adding pigment, I've been carefully refining my initial drawing.  What really helps is to look at the negative space shapes.  For instance, rather than looking at the leg of the chair to see if it's right, I look at the space behind it that is created by the leg, the crossbeam and the seat of the chair.  I already drew it by looking at the leg, so this is a great way to kind of double check.

I use the side of the pencil lead, a flattened "point" of the lead and sharp points for the next step:

Another important part of the background is making sure it bumps up perfectly against the subject, which means sharp tight angles filled in, no paper showing gaps.

Added white to the light portions of the chair, then another layer of light blue and one of a celedon green.  Darks will come later.  And I've blocked in more of the kitty.  Again, making sure my chair color bumps right up to the kitty.

Blending Colored Pencil

Now I have 4 or 5 layers of the dark, and am ready to blend it, giving it a solid appearance with no paper specks showing through.  There are many ways to do this, with a zillion layers of colored pencil (too time consuming for me), with solvent (I don't trust it on paper, I think it will degrade it over time), with the colorless blender pencil (100% wax, so it increases chances of wax bloom, where the piece gets a waxy haze over time).  I've tried them all but love this tricked out bristle stencil brush to push the pigment into the little valleys of the paper.  I got a pack of these inexpensively at a craft store and trimmed them all to make them even stiffer.  Then I just swirl in little circles with a fair amount of pressure.  I have big ones, little ones, ones for light colors and dark colors.  You need at least 4 layers of fairly good coverage to make this work.  If it's not blending easily, just do another layer of color.

Cat Portrait Beginning Stage

My plan ... but I'm flexible ... is to have the brown background suggest the inside of a barn or shed with a very subtle ray of light hitting the cat.  I don't want to go overboard with the ray of light because I feel that almost becomes the subject.  And since my objective here is to be a cat portrait, everything, including the light, needs to support kitty, not compete with him! 

I hope this has been helpful!  Next installment will be beginning work on the cat and maybe modeling the chair a bit.  You can get alerts when it's ready by "Liking" my facebook art page ArtistRobinZebley .  And the "finale" of this piece will be at the Bluestone Fine Art Gallery, 301 N. 3rd St. Philadelphia, PA 19106 on Saturday, April 21, 2012, where I'll be finishing this up.  And this piece can be purchased through the gallery!

Any questions on how to "paint" in colored pencil?  Just ask!  Robin

Tabby Cat Portrait, love those green eyes?

Tabby cat custom portrait I recently completed for a really happy client!  Love how she is looking right at me, I did her eyes early on, so she stared at me the whole time.

Since this pretty cat's portrait is so close up and personal, lots of individual fur hairs show.  Usually, my work is more painterly, with blocks of color rather than fur by fur.  And most of this is that way, too, but it wouldn't have looked right from this distance to NOT have a sprinkling of individual fur.

Now you may be wondering what Sarge, my boxer puppy, thinks about kitties.  He's actually only got one in his life, Dr. Fitz, who he gets to visit from time to time.  He's just curious, wants to play, but Dr Fitz has other ideas and leaves the room or jumps up high.

Dr. Fitz lives with Sarge's half brother, Hoss, also a boxer puppy...a so called black boxer... and Hoss and the good doctor get alone fine.

Thanks for visiting my blog!  I'll have more pet portraits and art to show and tell soon!  Robin

Cat in a Lavender garden - 8 x 10 painting - Trying out Ebay

I have a some dog portrait commissions in the works (yay) and am busy getting ready to show my other pieces in real life.  I painted this gray cat in acrylics and added the lavender garden in the background.  So I call this "Lavender".

I just put him up to bid on ebay.  I used to sell my tiny 2.5"x3.5" aceos there and did really well.  I sold some for over $60, which I was really pleased with.  But I let that go when I had to go back to work 3 years ago and now my "following" is all gone! 

So, I'm starting from scratch and that means starting wayyy low.   I am trying to have a piece for art for sale every day there, avoiding the days I'll be showing this in public.  So if he doesn't sell, I have another piece to bring with me.

I'm going to try the Golden Nugget Antiques Flea Market in Lamberton, NJ, across the Delaware River from New Hope.  I hear there's lots of nice art for sale there and I'm hoping to check that out next week.

Meanwhile, I see lots of "daily painters" and others on ebay whose work is quite good.  Not my subject matter, I personally wouldn't buy a painting of a donut or a cup of coffee, but I've seen pieces like that end up selling in 3 figures!  So, I think I'm in good company if I keep my head down and work and get enough pieces so I don't fall off the map again!  It's hard today, the weather here is approaching 70, I'm in shorts and a tshirt and planting peas in between everything else! 

If you'd like, you can see art on ebay, my art listings can always be searched by typing rzzart.  Or you can just go click that blue link!  Thanks for stopping by and sharing part of your day with me.  You know I Robinlove comments, and would love to see you become a follower here and a fan on my facebook page. 

The Rhythm of the Art Life

When I typed for lawyers, my day was mapped out for me.  Half an hour to and from, an hour for lunch and caged in a cube in between just doing as I was told.  The little time I had at home was pretty much taken up with chores and flopping exhausted on the couch.    While my art is now my fulltime "job", utilizing the time efficiently has been a struggle for me.  As any self promoting artist knows, the marketing end is very time consuming.  And I am learning how to make my art a small business, so I must devote time to that, as well.  Here's some things I've learned: 

• I do my best art with a fresh eye.  Two hours at a stretch is the max for me.  I've been hard on myself for not spending more time at a stretch, til I realized that quantity at one sitting does not make quality.
• I like media that can be stopped and restarted.  Colored pencils are so easy for this.  Also oil based printing inks.  I don't like the media dictating when I can work and when I can't and that's my main complaint about oils. 
• I need to get away.  A lot.  Now that sounds crazy, I love making art!  But shorter intervals broken up by doing something else really makes me more efficient.  In the beginning, I did all my housechores, walked Otto, got cleaned up and did my emailing and blogging BEFORE I did my art.  I cleared the decks.  I have learned that doesn't work for me.  Better for me to draw for an hour, then take a shower and walk Otto, then draw for an hour and go to the bank and library, draw for an hour and go dig up the dahlias.
• Online is good.  I actually like to be online when I work.  So I take little mini breaks while I work to respond to a post, check facebook, tweet, etc.  So much of what I do online is art related and it keeps me pumped and inspired.
• Online is bad.  Talking politics, critiquing, responding to trolls accomplishes nothing for me and hours can go by.  Eliminating.
• Online is fun.  I love my online art and animal friends and enjoy keeping up with what they are doing, guilt-free.  I'm outgoing and friendly by nature, and the social aspect of "work" is the only thing I miss.  I get that coffebreak type camaraderie with colleagues whenever I feel like it.  Fun to talk shop.
• Online combines fun with marketing.  Twitter has been very good to me!
• Housework can be done half asleep.  Yes, it is true.  Don't have to think too hard, so saving those chores for when I'm beat works well!
• Rome wasn't built in a day.  I do a little marketing every day.  I'm seeing good results.  And I'm looking with a hard eye what works and what doesn't.
• Business before pleasure.  I'm taking the time to learn how to run this as a real business.  Sounds so not artsy, right?  But it is and I'm taking advantage of opportunities to learn how to do it.  Recordkeeping is not my strong point but I am learning how to do it properly.
• Today and tomorrow influence each other.  What I do with each day is influenced by what's on my calendar down the road.  Silly to spend time marketing when I have deadlines to hit.  I don't have time now, for instance, to take any life drawing workshops, but I will after the holidays.  The rhythm of the art day is influenced by the calendar.  Go with the flow of what the priorities are.
• Being organized helps me be more creative.  I have a paper notebook where I write everything down.  I also have a calendar where I note opportunities I might want to do in the future.  Don't have to keep things in my head and can relax.
• The art is the thing.  I can truly get lost in the marketing, blogging, etc.  Deadlines loom and as I said I do my best work in 2 hour max shots.  I am strict about them.  But recognizing how I work best helps me do my best work.  Gotta go now!  Robin

I'm Robin Zebley, specializing in portraits of pets, animal art and now portraits of children.  My pet portraits site is full of info and samples.  I love comments on my blog and would love to hear from you!  If you would like to contact me by email, it's HERE.

Little bit of this, little bit of that - Portraits and Animal art

Last night I finished up a kitty memorial commission...almost.  I have just a LITTLE tiny more to do but had to let the piece rest to be able to add that tiny extra touch.  I am finding the combination of brands of colored pencils really works nicely with my style, which I think of as realistic with a splash of impressionism!  Or is it "robin-ism"?  I just do what I feel like!

Next on tap is a double dog portrait.  I'll be doing a thumbnail sketch first since I'm making modifications to the almost perfect photo that will be the base of this portrait.  Really helps to see if there's a composition problem before I commit to the large size.

Another cool thing coming up for me is that my art will be featured on a Philadelphia dog site!  I am doing a small piece of a puppy in the park for a raffle for this relatively new site.  Helps us both out.  I'll let you know the site once I'm on there and if you want, you can try for the free piece!

Yesterday Otto and I spent a ton of time outdoors and will be today too.  Just can't let these gorgeous sunny days go by without being there.  We've had so much rain that it makes you really appreciate when it's dry.  I've been shredding leaves and putting them in the old veggie garden which is penned to keep the rabbits out to become leaf mold.  Next year it won't be the garden anymore...it's gotten too dark, the trees we've planted are getting nice and shady and so I'll have to dig a new one out in a more sunshiney spot!

I've been REALLY fortunate that I've made some new internet friends who are trying to help me out by posting my links on their sites, passing out my cards, tweeting about my work, etc.  I'll be doing a whole post about them soon.  Oh..and I'm secretly doing another child's portrait!  So that's the little bit of this and little bit of that I'm up to!  Thanks so much for visiting with me (too bad we can't just sit down together for a cup of tea!) 

Thanks again for visiting my blog.  I'm animal and childrens portrait artist, Robin Zebley.  I'd love to work with you to create the portrait of your dreams!  My email is HERE.

Commissioning a Pet Portrait - How you can help create a portrait you'll love!

With me, my clients are as important in the process as the subjects!  I really want your portrait to be exactly what you envisioned, and something that you will love forever.  So I work hard to try and get at what it is you envision.  And sometimes, that's not that easy for a non-artist to verbalize.  I understand that.

Of course, the first thing is I need some photos.  I find that some people who would love a portrait hesitate because they don't have a perfect photo.  That is okay.  In fact, that's one of my strengths, imo.  Animals are HARD to photograph in a way that shows their "true colors".  Some of them are hilarious when you get the camera out.  I can never "catch" Otto indoors, he's too aware of my every move (always hoping yet another car ride or walk is on tap!) and my precious Gussie (who crossed that bridge 2 years ago), thought she was a runway model.  Any time that camera came out, she posed...and it was like the kid with a phony camera smile, it just didn't look like her.  And outdoors, forget it.  There's just so much going on!

So I know first hand how hard it is to get one great photo.

What I like is if you can send me several photos and we can decide together what will make the best portrait.   Of course, sometimes we get lucky and one is all we need!  But if not, we can work together.

There's 5 technical elements that I can put together for you:  Pose, Face, Coloring, Background and Foreground.  But the most important element to me is your telling me about their Personality.

Personality????  Absolutely.  Say you're purchasing a gift of your mother's precious pooch for Christmas.  She's a maltese.  I want this to look like Mom's maltese, not just any maltese.  Is she shy? Bossy? Outgoing? Curious? Loyal? Bratty? Naughty? Goofy? Queenlike? Serene?  Silly? When I know something about the personality of the animal, I can bring it out.  How?  I have no idea!!!  I just know that it comes through the details. 

My past customers have told me that I "caught her personality".  I have one golden retriever that looks...annoyed.  Her human told me that she is one of many in the family and she kind of sits to the side watching the other goofy animals with a superior, annoyed expression on her face.  Now if I made her look silly, that wouldn't be her, would it?  Her human loved her portrait...it was "her"!

Then, the technical aspects:

First, is the pose:  Is it the one of her lying on the rug?  Or is it that one, of her sitting ...but that kitchen trash is in the background?  Say you just love this one of her sitting but her front paws are cut off in the photo. Very common. I can work with that.  Numerous photos will show us her paws, and if it's a memorial portrait, I'll take a look at the paws of that breed and match it up.

Second is the face.  Very often the cute portrait pose is not the best expression that reveals their personality!  I can almost always combine the expressive face photo with the pose we decide works best.  Another aspect is getting the all important facial details.  I find a great place to get close details that I can use is outdoors in the car!  They are distracted enough to get in close and get that shot.  It doesn't have to be the right expression, but if I can see just how that nose is shaped, and just how far apart those eyes are, I can incorporate it!  Whatever I can do to make it look just like YOUR pet, is my goal.

Third is coloring.  Indoors shots are notoriously misleading colorwise.  Flashes bleach out coloring and give those eyes that bizarre green glow.  No matter!  A shot outdoors at any time except midday shows the coloring unique to your pet.  I don't care what they're doing outdoors, as long as I can see colors.  I might ask you for exact eye color, as well.  For most dogs, it's black coffee? black tea? a chocolate bar?  For cats, there's that whole range of light yellow to golden to greens to blues.  We'll get it right.  The eyes are all important...

Fourth is the background.  Ultra closeups call for something simple, but I do enjoy portraits that have the pet in a meaningful setting.  I really don't understand why so many portrait artists are afraid of backgrounds. Putting the pet into a real setting turns it from a "Sears" type portrait to a portrait that is meaningful to you and makes the art worth viewing in its own right!  On the couch?  On the oriental rug? Outdoors in the grass?  On top of a motorcycle?  Let's discuss!

Fifth is the foreground.  Often, the foreground...the bottom edge of the portrait...declares itself from the background choice.  But sometimes, it's flipped!  It is the most important "non-subject" part of the painting and the background sinks in importance.  For instance the pose of a dog lying on the edge of a rug with a wood floor showing that fades to a very dark background. 

And Sixth, which I forgot to mention earlier in my list, is working with multiple photos of a family of pets to make sure they are in the correct proportion to each other and are included in a creative composition that brings out the personality of each of them!

Some commissions are relatively straightforward.  From the array of photos, we quickly come to a consensus and the photos tell me all I need.  Sometimes, we need to work more.  I might ask you to photograph his tail or you might want to take a photo of the drapes you want in the background.  Or the favorite toy or blanket.

Email makes it really easy to communicate and I have enjoyed getting to know the fabulous pet owners who have commissioned portraits over the past 8 years.  I think the reason I have so many repeat gift orders is that my clients know I will go the extra mile to make that pet portrait that's a gift as detailed and personality filled as I can possibly make it! 

But I need YOUR input; otherwise, it's just like a little art factory producing breed art.  I want your portrait to be so unique and full of personality that nobody will say, "that's a pug".  But instead say, "that's MY pug!" 

Thanks for visiting my blog!  I'm Portrait Artist Robin Zebley, with over 8 years experience creating portraits of pets, now also offering portraits of children!  Many of my commissions are shown here, for more, and for ordering information and pricing, please visit my website: http://robinzebley.com/.  Questions? Ready to order?  Just click HERE.  I work commissions in the order I receive them and your deposit saves your space on my list.  I am looking forward to working with you!  Robin

Another great tip for taking pictures of your dog!

I got an email from a reader today with a super tip that I forgot about...exercise your dog first. Run off all that excess energy and your dog will be more relaxed, and smiling!! (Okay, non-dog people call that panting, but we know they're really smiling!!)

What's your great tip? I'd love to hear yours in a comment, or feel free to email me. (Love to get email!)

Tips for Taking Photos of Your Pet for a Portrait

Beautiful day in Philadelphia! And John and I are celebrating our 36th wedding anniversary. I'm a lucky girl. I was thinking about a post of Q and A for portraits, being that I've answered a lot of questions from so many wonderful animal lovers, who have commissioned me. But the number 1 "Q" is "How do I get a decent photo of my dog?" (Cats seem to make better models!)

Here's a few of my hints:

1. Take a LOT of photos. Many dogs change their spots when the camera comes out. Otto gets VERY VERY serious. Some look sad, or frightened or disturbed. So you probably won't get to take a shot or 2 and have it turn out. Others are so curious, they just come up and sniff the camera, especially if you are doing #2 on my list.

2. Get down on or near their face level. It's easier if they're on a couch or a bed.

3. Don't use flash. Get outside in the early morning for a nice soft light that will cast interesting shadows on their features and show their colors true. Or snap them near a window.

4. Don't worry about getting everything you want in one shot. If you like a pose, but his eyes are shut, that's okay. I take what I need from a variety of photos. Face from this one, pose from this one, tail from this one, coloring from this one.

5. Don't worry about what's in the background, I promise I won't include the trashcan or hubby's sneakers!

6. Some ideas: Put them in the car. They will be distracted hanging out the window looking at everything outdoors, and have a natural, interested look. This is a great spot to take a bunch of facial shots. Get a buddy to talk and play with them while you shoot the photos. Put them in a chair. On a bench. In the back of the truck. Take a shot of them asleep. Or just as they are waking up.

7. Again, take a LOT of shots. It's my job to put them all together!

Do you have some great tips for photographing dogs? Share them with us! If you haven't stopped by my portrait website, please do. It's http://robinzebley.com