The Timeline of a Portrait
Case Study - The Timeline of a Pet Portrait
Below you can see the step by step process used to create a real Pet Portrait from commission through to the finished painting.
It follows the progress of one of my recent commissions - "Cooper" the Basset Hound. I hope you enjoy following the process and if you have any queries please don't hesitate to contact
me at any time.
The clients photographs are the absolute key to any pet portrait - they are the corner stone upon which the painting is built. I need good quality, clear, in focus photos. Coopers owners emailed me several and the one shown below is the one we agreed to base the painting on.
Coopers owners had previously had this photo taken professionally, so it was an obvious choice to use. It was taken from a good angle and on a perfect level with the subject. It was useful that it had been taken against a clear backdrop as it made it very easy to see Coopers profile and colours.
However, I use the latest Adobe Photoshop editing software - so do not worry if your photo has a colourful or complicated background, as I can crop that out of the photo that I will work from.
I start by working out the proportions and scale of the painting compared to the photograph and then complete a rough sketch.
It is very important to get everything right at this stage, as it is more difficult to make adjustments to the scale or position of eyes, nose etc after I have started painting.
I also lightly shade in areas of darkness and shadows, as this gives some 3D effect and starts to bring the picture to life.
Once I am happy with the sketch, I start with some basic colour washes that match the main colours of the subject.
I can spend up to an hour mixing all the colours before I start painting, it is very important to get the colours exactly the same as the photo, and having used the same brand of paints for many, many years I instinctively know which colour paints I need to mix to get the desired result.
I always start with very light dilute washes and then build the layers and density up as the painting progresses, so I start with lighter colours and then add the darker colours in the later stages.
When I mix the paint I always mix more than I expect to need as the painting will be completed over several days, so the mixture needs to last without drying out to prevent having to match the colours all over again - I can always add more water to the paint the next day to dilute it if necessary.
The preparation for the painting process really is a very important stage of the commission.
I now start to add some of the other colours, in this case the white. It is still only just blocks of colour, with no real detail added yet, but, in my mind I can already see how the painting is starting to develop.
The painting is now starting to take shape and I can add other colours such as the black and the darker browns. It is now a case of building up the layers of darker paint over the lighter layers I set down in the earlier stages. I also start filling in the tongue and the nose.
It is important not to layer the paint too heavy, as unlike when painting with oil paints, watercolours cannot be painted light over dark - the lightness is achieved by letting the base layers show through.
I can now start adding some real detail - building up the shadows around the head and the ears and adding the highlights to the fur to begin to bring some depth into the painting. At this stage, many hundreds of individual brushstrokes have gone into creating the effect of the fur and it is now starting to look like the photo.
I also finish the fine detail of the mouth and the nose, this is where the painting really starts to come to life and by now I will have spent up to 3 days working on it.
I always leave the eyes to the very last, because if I am happy with the rest of the painting then I know that as soon as I add the eyes it will instantly come to life. It really is amazing how much extra difference it makes when you finish them, the saying is correct that "the eyes are the window to the soul".
The painting is now almost complete and it is just a matter of adding the very last fine details, such as the eyelashes and the whiskers.
I always take a step away from the painting at this final stage and come back to it a few hours later, so I am seeing it with a fresh pair of eyes and I can see if there are any areas that need "tweaking".
The finished painting !
This is when I take a final photo* to email to the client to check that they are 100% happy with the result and that there are no minor adjustments to be made.
Although many clients do not even want to see a photo beforehand - they prefer the thrill and surprise of seeing the actual finished portrait in front of them.
Depending on your preferences, I am happy to send you either regular photo updates on the progress of your commission, a final photo of the finished painting or if you would rather, you can wait and see the completed portrait "in the flesh".
* I keep a digital image of each finished artwork for reference, and this may also be used for future promotion and publicity purposes possibly with the name of the animal. However, please let me know at the time of booking if you would prefer me not to use the image in any publicity and I will be happy not to do so.
Artist’s copyright
I retain the copyright and reproduction rights of all my work (in keeping with the law on Artists Copyright). However for pet portraits, because the animal is so personal to you, I would not normally have a problem with you using the image again for your own personal use, but excluding any use for commercial purposes.