Welcome to my blog and I hope you enjoy the progression of this giant portrait of three extremely cute dogs. This is Cheetah, the Chihuahua/Yorkie cross, Minnie the Yorkie, and Nelly the KingCharles/Bichon cross. Wow that’s a lot and these three are clearly the most lucky pampered pooches ever.
The finished portrait 24″x 17″ soft pastel.
I begin by drawing out the composition. All three dogs posed perfectly for their picture, so there is very little to do compositionally.
I also begin standing at this piece as the background is large and I want to be able to work it all at once. It makes sense to stand even though I’m filming and i end up in front of the camera sometimes!
Showing you how I start to build up the light honey/white coat of Cheetah. Many colours, darker than you think sometimes, go into creating light coloured fur. From the footage I created from this piece I’m going to make some real time tutorials for my Patreon channel. If you’re interested in learning my techniques visit https://www.patreon.com/EmmaColbertArt
One eye in and I love the expression on Cheetah’s face.
Sitting by this point to get good balance for that small detail. I’ve also taken over an old tv screen in our apartment to work from. It’s great while filming as I don’t have to keep zooming in and out on the laptop.
Some of the lovely Unison colours that are going into this fur.
Filming while I work. So far it’s a Go-Pro which is producing lovely 1080hd quality footage. But if Patreon continues to grow I hope to upgrade to a decent DSLR camera and keep the Go-Pro for other shots and close ups. I have some new studio lighting showing up tomorrow so bit by bit my filming set up will grow 🙂
Onto cute Minnie in the middle. Starting with those tufts of hair at the top which overlap the first dog.
Adding some really vibrant colours throughout her coat.
Using the smallest shards for the smallest detail.
This area is tricky as the third dog has her leg underneath Minnie and the two seem to melt together in soft fur.
Onto dog number three. Little Nelly has had a tough start in life. Her first 10 weeks saw her physically and emotionally abused. But it really seems she has landed on all four paws. Her white fur added a lovely touch of brightness to the overall piece with all that green around them.
Working on her main features. Still a lot of tweaking to do on the fur.
Working on down the chest and using pure white where the light is hitting her directly.
Saving white for only those lit areas, I use many shades of blue violet and peaches throughout the coat.
So close to the end, just that front paw which will bring Nelly onto the chair.
I hope you’ve enjoyed their progression. You can see some of my videos like the one below on my Youtube channel at www.youtube.com/emmacolbertart. But for the full length tutorial and lots of other pastel tips visit my Patreon Channel at www.patreon.com/emmacolbertart