Terrier
Finished Painting
The following tutorial series covers just over 3.5 hours. The full painting is available with colour coding and narration for full guidance.
This is the perfect small pet portrait if you are just starting out in pastel portraits. It's not too time intensive but we cover a lot of techniques. With a simple background we can focus more on the fur and the main features.
I also chat a lot about the logistics of working on commissions and hopefully I have managed to include a lot of useful information about colour theory too.
A great little piece to learn lots from without investing too much time.
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Reindeer Decoration
Finished Painting
The following tutorial series covers just over 3 hours. The narration in this demo will guide you through the full project using a limited palette.
This small and festive themed demo has a few challenges with shiny and glittery objects. The glitter is such a fun effect to create in soft pastel and with a few simple tricks, you can do it too!
I hope that if you work along you'll have such great results that you try it out again with some photos of your own decorations. The photo reference was taken with a phone camera, so no professional photography equipment. Why not have a go at some of your own shiny baubles and decorations. Hopefully this fun little demo will give you the knowledge and confidence to try!
Timelapse Video
Candlelit Lantern
Finished Painting
The following tutorial series covers just under 2.5 hours. The narration in this demo will guide you through the full project using a limited palette.
This cosy candlelit lantern is a fun exercise in tonal values and creating a glowing warmth. Although it's not vital to work on a dark coloured paper, I highly recommend it. It was so satisfying to see the light emerge from the darkness!
One of the shorter tutorials in my library, this is perfect for a smaller project that is packed full of information and techniques.
Below you'll find the reference image I used, but I also encourage you to try this out with your own references. I took this image using my phone camera, so no fancy photographer equipment required. Get creative and have a go!
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Hudson Bay Wolf
Finished Painting
The following tutorial series covers 9 hours. The full painting is available with colour coding and narration for full guidance.
This piece is based on photo references I took at Lobo Park (Wolf Park) in the South of Spain. It's a place I've been meaning to visit to take photos for quite some time. This is the first image I decided to paint from my references as it is pretty special.
The series goes into full detail all the way through with colour coding and narration so you can work along on this bigger and more complicated project. There are tricky elements in here but with my guidance I hope you'll succeed in creating this scene. Or why not consider cropping closer to the wolf and create your own composition.
Click the button below to access the photo reference I used to create this piece and work along with me. Or click HERE for a bonus selection of other wolf images to choose from. I'll be painting more wolves and will release even more photos for you to use then.
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Lovebird
Finished Painting
The following tutorial covers just 1.5 hours. The narration in this demo will guide you through the full project using a limited palette.
This short demo was done as a way to test out Sennelier pastel pencils, one of the products I reviewed on my Youtube channel (see the video at the bottom)
But because I enjoyed doing this so much, I thought I would release the full demo here. It's only 1.5 hours long, so a very nice short project to have a bit of fun with.
It's small and I used entirely the Sennelier pastel pencils I was reviewing. But you could use different pastel pencils or even incorporate some soft pastel sticks like I would have normally. Feel free to substitute for a different paper too as this one has gone out of production since making this video! If you're using the Sennelier pencils though, I do highly recommend using a sanded paper like Fisher 400. Have a look at my review video below before you get started, but this is a vibrant and fun way to spend a hour or two.
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Pine Cone
Finished Painting
The following tutorial series covers just over 2 hours. The narration in this demo will guide you through the full project using a limited palette.
This small study was a surprisingly satisfying piece to work on. I used quite a limited palette of colours and spent the first half of the demo creating an atmospheric background. Part of what attracted me to paint this was the light shining through the pine needles creating this fresh effect that makes me feel like I'm back in the forest.
If you choose to work along with me you'll learn all about creating out of focus backgrounds as well as using tonal value and colour choices to creating the effects of realistic lighting.
You'll find the reference image I worked from by clicking the button below. Or if you prefer to create your own composition inspired by this, I have also released a bonus pack of photos with close ups of nature. Access these extra images by clicking HERE
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Cockapoo
Finished Painting
The following tutorial series covers just over 6.5 hours. The full painting is available with colour coding and narration for full guidance.
If you've been struggling to paint curly fur this is the tutorial series for you. I think it's one of my most in depth tutorials on colour theory and focusing for long enough to create complicated areas of detail. From the science behind my colour choices, to the practical advice on staying motivated when a piece feels difficult.
Sometimes it's the mental struggle in a painting that beats us. Part of this tutorial is trusting the process and chipping away at a piece little by little.
I'll guide you from beginning to end with Harry the Cockapoo giving you the confidence to tackle what have might seemed impossible.
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Fawn
Finished Painting
The following tutorial series covers just over 2.5 hours. The narration in this demo will guide you through the full project using a limited palette.
This small demo is perfect if you are short on time to paint and want to create a wildlife piece including a background. I show you how to create this type of out of focus background that is both quick to paint, and extremely effective in setting off your main subject.
In this case our main subject is a very sweet little fawn who I photographed in Autumn a few years ago. You'll find the image for this demo at the reference link below. But I have also included a pack of red deer photo reference for you to use alongside this demo. You can access these extra photos HERE
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Miniature Dachshund
Finished Painting
The following tutorial series covers just over 3 hours. The narration in this demo will guide you through the full project using a limited palette.
This short project is a fun way to learn about painting fur while at the same time learning how to incorporate a background into your portraits. I used mostly my Unison Pastels Animal set with a few added greens for the background so if you have this set you will have all the same colours to work along. As always though, it's not vital to have the same materials as me. Feel free to substitute for different pastels or paper.
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Red Squirrel
Finished Painting
The following tutorial series covers just under 5 and a half hours. The full painting is available with colour coding and narration for full guidance.
It's not often I see a red squirrel in Ireland, so when I saw this one and managed to get a photograph that was in focus, I was determined to paint it. As you'll see from the photo reference pack below, my original photo was less than perfect. It was dark and the squirrel was much smaller in the composition. But with a bit of cropping and some imagination with the colours, I think it turned into a really vibrant and attractive composition.
In this series I take you step by step through the painting process and share all the skills I employ when trying to bring out the potential in a tricky photo reference. As always there is a lot of talk about the colour choices and how they can transform a dull photograph into something special.
