Cat Portrait Demo, details, details, details!

More progress since last time!    I've been busy finishing commissions, which always come first for me,  so my apologies for the gap in time.  You must have wondered if I forgot all about our orange tiger tabby and his vintage chair!  Anyway ....First on the chair,  I put a new layer all over of muted turquoise, then of chocolate in the farther away spots to pull it back and start the process of drawing more attention to the star, our kitty cat!    And ... speaking of our star,  lots of work on him.   But back to the chair, I also began adding in the chipped away paint, exposing the dark wood underneath the turquoise paint job.  A few areas are hit by sunlight and I've left that, and fuzzed the edges on the chair as well.    Again, I don't want this portrait to be of a chair that happens to have a cat on it, but a cat that happens to be on a chair.  So, he's getting the lion's share of the detailing.

I started with drawing in his paw pads, adding the dark cast shadows under his head and bent back ear, and along his body and leg.  I am purposely making the back legs less detailed.

The whites are either reinforced, or darkened with a gray blue.

Next up, his face.  I am an early bird and need to take advantage of my early energy so that will have to wait til next time! 

Meanwhile, I also wanted to mention that I am in an unusual situation for me, I'm fresh out of commissions!  So I'm having a summer sale to get busy again!  If you've ever thought about purchasing a portrait from me, now is the time, and a perfect time to get a jump on Christmas shopping.  Use the coupon code "SummerPortraits" at checkout of any size custom portrait from my Etsy Portrait Shop for 25% off!  This offer only good til I get busy again, hopefully for just a week or so! 

Anyway, any questions or comments on my work in progress of the colored pencil cat?  Just ask! Robin

Colored Pencil Demonstration - cat on a vintage blue chair - Composition

Thanks for stopping by to watch my step by step demonstration of how I do a colored pencil piece in my signature, painterly style!  You'll see that I approach my pieces in an unusual way for this medium.  I don't use sharp points and teeny tiny circles to fill in, I block in, and then refine.  This is the first step, the composition of the piece.

I studied my reference photos and decided what I wanted to go with.  Then, I did a little thumbnail sketch of what I had in my mind.  Putting two elements together, the chair and the cat, meant I HAD to do a little sketch to make sure everything fit.  First I was going with a portrait orientation, but after I did the sketch, realized it looked more like a chair with a funny looking cushion and changed it to landscape to put the focus on the kitty!

I use either pastels or colorerase pencils to lay out my pieces.  I am using a medium gray shade of Canson's Mi Tientes pastel paper, the smooth side.  I sketched out my piece, erasing as I go with a white plastic eraser.  Mi Tientes is hard and erasable, so I can correct mistakes easily.  After I'm done, wipe it with a tissue and much of the pigment comes off.  Where I've gone too dark, I just lightly erase it.  I've photoshopped this so you can see my drawing, but actually, it's very pale.
Next, I save the areas where the whitest whites are from any migrating smudges from dark areas with white pencil. I can erase that later or just go over it with another color.

Then, I blocked in the light chair using Cloud Blue, a pale shade. I use the side of my pencil lead, not the point, just lightly color it in.   I don't want to lose my drawing, so I use a sharp point of a blue gray to just keep my lines in.
Next, I took a dark brown, Sepia, and blocked in the wall behind the chair.    Kitty will wait til my background is close to finish because the colors I use will be affected by what's next to him.  And I want to be able to let fur straggle onto it.

The next, more important thing I do is put it away for a day or two!  I can already see areas that need erasing and refining in this basic drawing that looked fine as a layout to me yesterday.  Somehow letting the brain rest allows me to see where changes are needed for this basic foundation.  If this isn't right, no matter how nicely I color it in, it won't look right.

I'd love to hear what you think, if you have questions!  I'm glad to answer emails, but it's more fun if everyone following along can comment!  If you have friends or family who like to draw, or love pets, I'd love to have them join along.   "Like" my Facebook page for alerts on the next installment!

Colored Pencil Demonstration - Importance of the Background

It might not look like it, but everyone here has gotten a few more coats of color via prismacolor colored pencil. But I can't go any further until I know what the rest of the piece is going to look like. That is, the background.

Actually, what I'm referring to as the background is actually the foreground and the background and the middle ground....everything that doesn't include the subjects! For some reason, many artists have no trouble rendering their subjects but are scared to death of putting their subjects into a setting. I don't understand that. I think about where I want my animals to be, and have made the decision before I sketch a thing.

A good foreground can lead the eye right into the heart of the piece, the middle will ground the subject/s and the background will frame them. Especially with pets, who are so often reclining, it gives energy to the piece.

In this case, Carol, these pet's mom, had her own ideas of the supporting background, but as I mentioned, I had to simplify the quilt. I could have "made" the bed, but frankly, I thought that wouldn't be very interesting. So I gave it some folds, yet kept a simple perspective that would tell the story that the pets were a little way away from the "front" or bottom, of the piece. I only use a few layers in the background, I don't want it too detailed and I let the blue of the paper play a part.

Since colors affect each other, it's important to get that background in early. I especially wanted to get the backboard of the bed (again simplified) in so that I could judge the values and colors of the animals who were right in front of it. Speaking of which, is the cat on the pillows in the middle.

The more I looked at this kitty, the more itlooked like an owl to me. What an annoyed look! told me that, so guessed that the annoyance was at having to pose for the camera. You know how when cats are annoyed their eyes just flatten on the top but not on the bottom? That's how this one looked. Was that part of this cat's personality or did we have reluctant model? I figured that if this was a really ornery kitty, Carol would have told me. So out came the eraser, this kitty was going to be drawn again from scratch, this time with the ears brought forward and toward the middle and the eyes rounded...an alert, relaxed look, not perturbed...and certainly not an owl!!

Next time, I'll tell you how I do the coloring for tortishell cats, tabby cats, white dogs and black dogs. Meanwhile, if you haven't visited my pet portrait website, come visit! It's http://robinzebley.com, click here!
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