I do pet portraits for people who love their furry family members and friends. The above portrait is of Phoebe Grace. She's 21x29 inches. I started working on this at the end of summer, but I have a hard time working on commissioned projects while school's in session, so I wasn't able to finish her until last week. Although I've worked from clients' pet pics previously, I generally prefer to take my own photographs, whenever possible. I then use Photoshop to edit them to the specifications of the client. Once a final pic is approved by the client, it becomes my drawing reference. I begin each painting by creating a visible but faint outline of all large shapes with graphite. I then build up layers of color and texture with NuPastels, charcoal, and Conte crayon. Although I enjoy using NuPastels, I'm considering a switch to hard pastel pencils. I need something that will give a finer line (for hair layering) than the shape of the NuPastels will allow.
