Waiting list as of Jan 26

1. Noah - in progress
2. Abbee - in progress
3. Jessie, Bart and Cooper

Noah and Abbee - Stage 2

Sorry it's taken me so long to post an update on these drawings.

I've had a bit of trouble with Abbee the cat. I started out using a bristol paper, which doesn't have much "tooth", meaning it is quite smooth. I wasn't sure if I liked the texture and I wasn't sure the coloured pencil would layer nicely like I wanted. So I started another one of her on a different type of paper. In the end, I liked the original one better, so I went back to that. And as it turns out, the bristol paper layers quite nicely, as long as you go from light colours to dark.

By layering, I mean that when you use coloured pencil (or paints, pastels for that matter), you need to layer lots of different colours in order to get depth. For instance, if a cat is black, you can just use the colour black, but the drawing will look very flat. Instead, it's a good idea to use blues and purples (or any other colour) to add a sheen, and to make the coat look real. In the black/grey areas of Abbee's drawing, I used a combination of pinks, blues, purples and browns before I even added black. I'm quite happy with how the fur is looking so far.


















And here's Noah. I think he's coming along nicely as well.

Noah and Abbee - Stage 1

This is Abbee the cat. She is being drawn in coloured pencil on 11x14 paper. The scan of the drawing is much darker than it is in real life. The paper is actually white. This is a photo I took of the drawing, and I had to darken it quite a bit so you can actually see the drawing on the computer screen. Once I have more drawn, it will be much easier to see. I've started timing this one, and so far I've put in about 2:15 hrs.




And this is Noah the Cocker Spaniel. He is being drawn in pencil on 8x10 paper. I scanned this on our scanner so it is much clearer and brighter. (Abbee's 11x14 picture won't fit as nicely on our scanner)

Now on to my next commissions....

Well I heard back from Shamus' Mom and she loves the drawing. She said she is happy with the background as well and said that it is "so Shamus". (I guess he likes to sit at the patio door and look outside).

It is always a relief to hear that the client loves your drawing. I'm really glad she is happy with the background too because it's not something that I usually add in. I just felt this portrait needed the background to show the viewer what the cat is doing and where the light is coming from.

So now I move on to my next commissions. I've got two in line at the moment, and I'm actually planning on working on them both, rather than one after the other. One is of a cocker spaniel named Noah that I will be doing in pencil and the other is a cat named Abbee that will be done in coloured pencil. I want to get a started on both of them because I will be away in China visiting my sister for 2 1/2 weeks in February and I don't want to get behind. So I will be posting these works in progess (WIP) soon.

Shamus is complete!

Here is the final scan of Shamus. I'm just waiting for the ok from the client and then it will be sprayed with fixative and delivered!

In the scan, the tones aren't quite like the original.

Shamus - Stage 4

I'm getting close to being done now. I still have some touching up to do and I'm going to add a light background. It shouldn't be long now!