Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Pencil Portrait Step 3: the muzzle

In this sitting, I have mainly worked the nose and muzzle area but also started to work the fur on the right side of the dog's face and the wrinkles on the forehead. I will probably complete the top of the dog's head next to prevent smudging as I work my way down. I always use a clean piece of white paper as a hand guard but prefer to work around previously worked areas.

4 comments:

  1. He's coming along beautifully Colette - and I'm with you re. the eyes .... I always have to draw those in first to help me get a feel for the animal's personality.

    Are you using coloured pencils with the graphite - I'm sure I see brown tones (unless its my monitor)?

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  2. Looking great Colette. I always have to do the eyes first. If I don't get the eyes right then I know I have to start over.

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  3. Thanks Sue and Doreen! I know some animal artists who prefer to draw the eyes last...just not me; perhaps it is a confidence issue.
    Sue, I am indeed enhancing the graphite with some color using my new Polychromos oil pencils! I think I like them but they don't have many colors so lots of mixing is involved.

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  4. Awwww! It's always the eyes! Beautiful job...I love him!!! When I do a portrait, I always paint the eyes first, as well.

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