Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Gallery updates

Well now Christmas is over, I can safely add my Christmas commissions to my website. I had six in total to add, a Corgi cross, a Doberman, a Paterdale Terrier, 2 Old English Sheepdogs and family portrait of a Greyhound and two Cats. The first one I added was Horace, a Corgi cross, who's 12" x 16" pet portrait was completed in Coloured pencil.


For more information and a bigger picture, take a look at Horace's gallery page.

Friday, December 22, 2006

Christmas Holidays!

Hello, sorry I haven't been updating the blog lately - it's been 12 days! Basically, this is beacuse i've been manically busy doing Christmas commissions. I posted the last 3 today, so now I am officially on holiday! I have been busy doing nothing all afternoon. Unfortunately, with them all being Chrsitmas presents i can't show them untill after Christmas, when I can update my website with the 5 new gallery pages. I have two portraits to do in January - both in coloured pencil, one of a Lurcher, and one a Great Dane full body with a background, so I will be able to post the work in progress of them soon.

Merry Christmas to you all, and Happy New Year!!

Sunday, December 10, 2006

making black in coloured pencil

I am currently working on a Doberman in coloured pencil, which I am really enjoying. I am using my new Coloursoft coloured pencils which are adorable (if a coloured pencil can be adorable!!). I like drawing black short haired dogs, whether in graphite or colour, because of the enormous range of tones available to use. Black in coloured pencil is not just black either - it's made up of several layers of different colours to create a very vibrant shiny black. Here are the coloures i've been using today to draw the Doberman, which is a 'cool' black.


Step 1:
First I lay down a layer of 'blue' & 'bright lilac'. This is like an underpainting, so it's very light and just a wash over, not worrying about the direction of the pencil strokes.















Step 2:
Then I use 'dove grey' all over, this time with the pencil strokes going in the direction of the fur.
















Step 3:
The 3rd layer is to put down another layer of 'blue' in the darkest areas. This time I press quite hard, getting softer as I blend into the paler areas.














Step 4:
I then use 'royal purple' in the same way as the second layer of 'blue'. All these layers now are added using short pencil strokes in the direction of fur growth to create the fur texture.














Step 5:
The next colour I use is 'indigo'.
















Step 6:
Now eventually I use 'black'. The black is built up in layers, pressing harder and using more layers in the very dark areas and only very softly going over the other colours in the lighter areas to create a grey. To finish the lighter grey areas I use a 'persian grey' pencil, and the the 'dove grey' to fill in the highlight areas. All these different layers create a very thorough even covering of the paper, and the colours used in the different layers help to create the illusion of light and shadow far better than simply using a 'black' pencil and varying the strength of applying colour.

Friday, December 08, 2006

Doberman Pet portrait #2

The customer decided that she would have her Doberman portrait in coloured pencil, which was generally the unanimous vote from everyone asked! I started it yesterday, just the outline and the first layer of 'underpainting'. I will do some more to it over the weekend and will update you as I go. Here he is so far:

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Doberman pet portrait

One of my Christmas commissions, due to be started tomorrow is of a beautiful Doberman. I really like Dobermans and it's always nice to draw dog breeds that I personally like. The customer was unsure about whether to have it in graphite or pencil, and to be honest I was a bit unsure what would look best. On one hand black dogs often look better in graphite, but, being a Doberman he also has tan patches and coloured pencil would pick up the differences in colour where I think with graphite it would be hard to differentiate between the black highlights and the tan fur. I put the query on the pet portraits forum i'm a member of and one of my fellow artists suggested drawing a sample in both graphite and colour to make it easier to compare. So I did! I think he will look better in colour, but I have emailed the customer with a copy of the picture and my suggestion and I will wait and hear what she says. Here is the samples - what do you think?

Monday, December 04, 2006

Pet family portrait

I had my first order today for a group pet portrait, by which I mean more than two animals. It's also my first overseas order. It's two cats and a greyhound which are to be arranged in a composition on the owners sofa. They are 3 lovely animals, all quite elderly and I have loads of photos to use which is good, the better and the more photos a customer can supply the better the outcome of the portrait. It is a 20" x 24" coloured pencil drawing, so this means it will probably be the last Christmas order I can accept, unless I suddenly become very efficient at producing work quickly! However, I don't want to put anyone off - if you are interested in a portrait for Christmas, please contact me, and I also do Gift Vouchers which are a fantastic alternative.

Friday, December 01, 2006

New pets & art website

I have recently set up a new website called www.laura-young.co.uk. It is to showcase my Original Artwork and ACEO's. I am planning on concentrating on doing more ACEO's in the new year, to add to my online portfolio and generate a little extra income, so I thought a website dedicated to them would be good and would keep it all separate from the Pet Portraits. I have also added a photography gallery to it and sections about the Scottish Highlands and different types of pets and wildlife. I have been wanting to add pet information pages to my site for a while, so I thought it would be a good way to develop the new website. It's not finished yet, but I have my ACEO's on there and the original artwork I have done. I have set up a blog for it to advise of new updates. Here is the Blog. I hope you enjoy it. I have enjoyed creating it and look forward to regularly updating it.