I’ve been looking forward to Coconut the cat and you can see why. She is so regal and gorgeous in this picture. I worked from a couple of photos to incorporate her very unusual tail. Hope you enjoy the progress…
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| The finished painting, pastel on velour 18″x14″ |
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| My rough outline sketch transferred onto the velour and ready to paint. There are still some tweaks around the chin area but I think most of the proportions are good. |
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| Love this dark surround of the wood which will really make Coco stand out. |
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| Starting on Coco and working the top edge here to get the crisp contrast between her and the background. Using mostly Unison soft pastels and making good use of my 36 Animal selection in this piece! |
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| You can see the yellow of the paper makes a good mid colour to work from for a white animal in bright light. It keeps their warmth and I only really use Grey28 (white) as the brightest highlights stroked over the fur. |
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| Using BV9 on her shoulder in shadow. I will tone it down with the next layers but this blue really cools down this area. |
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| Lots of bits and pieces of pastel. I’m often asked about small detail with large sticks. The large sticks don’t remain intact for long with me. I like when they wear down into useful shapes but I will break them if I need an edge. |
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| Working the rest of the coat loosely making sure to follow the flow of the flesh and muscle underneath. |
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| I use some pastel pencils to give the impression of those very fine flyaway hairs around the edges. |
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| Picking out the whitest areas now for the highlights. |
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| Most of the whiskers are done with a sharp shard of Unison pastel. I add some finer whiskers with pastel pencil. |
Thanks for visiting my blog, I hope you found the progress interesting or useful…or both!
Great post Emma… I really appreciate seeing all the steps and know what Unison colors you used for that luscious white coat. This is a beautiful painting, as always.
Thank you Marianne, I'm glad it was useful. It was a good one to use as I literally used almost all the light shades in the set. You can never have too many shades!! 🙂
I’ve been searching for a pastel artist who does domestic animals. I don’t want to do lions and tigers, bears or wolves. I’m probably going to sign up for your Patreon account, but might wait until I finish an acrylic painting I’m working on now! I did finish a fox pastel tutorial, and was very pleased with the results. I want to learn more, and your artwork is beautiful. I don’t expect to reach your level of expertise, but I am always wanting to learn.
Hi Anne, Thanks for leaving such a lovely message. I tend to paint more domestic animals as commissions and wildlife for galleries. But dogs, cats and horses are a big part of my work and I love that! Look forward to seeing you maybe over on Patreon and good luck with your Acrylic painting 🙂