Pet Portrait: Billy the Miniature Pinscher
I’ve been drawing pet portraits on and off for over a decade now, but in all that time I’ve never been asked to draw the same portrait twice, until now, thanks to this precious and beloved boy Billy. Because of how long these portraits take me (I swear I’m getting slower), I may have split the two portraits apart by placing a different commission in the middle of the two for the sake of my own sanity, because staring at the same piece of art for so long can make time feel weird, and progress made feel stunted. But hey, at least Billy was a cutie!
Original Photos: I like to say that I didn’t want to draw the actual background of the portrait because all the grass falling to the left would pull the eye’s focus to that side of the paper, but if I’m being honest, 95% of the reason I pulled a part of the background from another image is mostly because I didn’t want to have to draw all those smaller blades of grass on Billy’s right side.
Paper Used: Strathmore Drawing Paper (400 Series) cut to 11x14”
Prismacolor Colored Pencils Used:
Violet Blue - PC933 Blue Violet Lake - PC1079 Dark Green - PC908 Olive Green - PC911 Apple Green - PC912 Spring Green - PC913 Sap Green Light - PC120 Pale Sage - PC1089 Grey Green Light - PC289 Yellowed Orange - PC1002 Dark Umber - PC947 Dark Brown - PC946 Sienna Brown - PC945 Terra Cotta - PC944 Henna - PC1031 Light Umber - PC941 Burnt Ochre - PC943 Clay Rose - PC1017 Beige Sienna - PC1080 Rosy Beige - PC1019 Peach Beige - PC1085 Pink Rose - PC1018 Blush Pink - PC928 Salmon Pink - PC1001 Deco Pink - PC1014 Deco Peach - PC1013 Ginger Root - PC1084 Sand - PC940 Eggshell - PC140 Cream - PC914
Black - PC935 90% French Grey - PC1076 70% French Grey - PC1074 50% French Grey - PC1072 30% French Grey - PC1070 20% French Grey - PC1069 10% French Grey - PC1068 90% Warm Grey - PC1058 70% Warm Grey - PC1056 50% Warm Grey - PC1054 30% Warm Grey - PC1052 20% Warm Grey - PC1051 10% Warm Grey - PC1050 White - PC938
Progress Pics:
Time-Lapse Video: Coming Soon
Time Spent: 98 hours and 20 minutes for the first portrait, and 107 hours and 55 minutes for the second. You’d think I would’ve gotten faster having figured out the color blends and what not the first time around, but no. Maybe I really should start looking into other mediums; I’ve really been enjoying the portrait work of artists who use pastel pencils, so maybe I’ll try those out. I’m not sure if they would actually help me cut down hours or become less anal about getting minute details correct, but I wonder if working from a dark base and building up lighter colors as I go would actually help me get my color blends more accurate than when I work from light to dark with my Prismacolors. I’ve noticed that trying to layer too many colors on top of each other doesn’t necessarily work with them, so maybe this will combat the frustration I feel about that.
Up Next: I’ve got a 5x7” portrait of a Havanese already ready to share!
Until next time!
Lauren H.