Pet Portraits and Wildlife Art

Just a small update to continue with my techniques post from yesterday, I've continued to work on the body of the leopard since then. It has taken 4 more layers of various browns plus the brown/black and black for the dark fur for this area. I have used short pencil strokes to give the illusion of fur and then I also went back over with a white and pale cream in between the fur to give even more definition to the strands. You can see this in more detail here...

...plus you can see I've worked some whiskers. Some artists indent the page for their whiskers but I find it easier to use a very sharp pencil (the undercoat colour) and draw around them before I fully put down the undercoat. As I add each layer of progressively darker colour I carefully go around them. Once I have enough layers in place I add definition to the whiskers with a sharp white pencil (derwent artists are good to sharpen to a point) and then if I have accidently gone onto the whiskers with any colour I can use a stabilo white which goes over everything to ensure they stand out.

And just for Jane, I use a good heavy cartridge paper, I don't use the expensive stuff as I find it just isn't really that much better, if you go wrong, you go wrong no matter what the paper plus it doesn't make you better at painting or drawing etc but obviously the cheaper the paper the less useful it is so go for a medium price range. I have tried bristol board and drafting film but found these too smooth for my use, I like to add lots of layers and almost blend the colours so I need a rough textured surface. I will be trying watercolour paper at some point as this seems to be very rough so may be ideal for me. I've also tried mount card and depending on where it comes from, this sometimes has a medium rough surface so I did find it quite good to use plus it comes in a multitude of colours and you can buy a single piece at a time or in bulk. As for pencils, I'm a Derwent girl, I've used studio - good for smooth surfaces, artists - loved these until I got a full set of coloursoft and they are my favourite of all. I find them nice and waxy so they glide on and blend quite well. I do have some other brands but nothing in any numbers and I'm sure I'll stick with the coloursoft as I know exactly how to handle them in my own style.

A few other bits and bobs...

Willow and I are off to a puppy party at the Vets tonight. All I hope is that the cakes are for me and not the dog!!! It's just to promote their clinic and ensure your puppy is well looked after plus Willow will get to roll around on the floor with lots of other, much smaller no doubt, yapping little doggies for a few hours!

She has also started to develop her sense of smell, twice today she smelt deer out but luckily she didn't chase them for the chance of a biscuit, I hope it stays that way!

I'm hoping to get some more deer videos tomorrow, a herd of about 50 deer crossed the road in front ouf our truck this afternoon in a place we hadn't worked yet and we will be there tomorrow so I'll be at the ready with my camera, we also saw another herd of about 20 as well but that seemed a bit disappointing after the huge herd. Also we noted some 'chewing' from the base up to about a metre up a tree, this is a sign of wild boar activity so I might be wearing running shoes tomorrow instead of steel toe capped boots!!!

Plus just a reminder for my wildlife competition, I need images!!! If you have the copyright to a wildlife image and would like a chance to see it as a piece of art plus receive a limited edition print of it, get sending them in to me at pencilportraits@rock.com... Not long to go now so get moving! I've also made headway with my new wildlife art website, the only problem is I have not a lot of wildlife art to put on it so I need to get my fingers working to the bone before it can go live!