Pet Portrait: Jose the Chihuahua

Meet Jose, a chihuahua mix whose largely grey scale coloration was a relief after working on Paxton's Mardi Gras collar in the prior portrait (see it here!).

The biggest problem I had with this portrait was that the original photo I used as my reference was rather dark.  Lightening it was easy enough on the computer (don't worry, I checked to make sure that those colors were accurate!), but some of the darker portions on his face still remained a little undefined, so I had to add more variation with grays to add a little more depth (especially on the portion of his fur between his right ear and right eye).  I also lightened his irises and the whites of his eyes so they were a little cleaner.

Paper Used: 400 Series Flannel White Strathmore Artist Paper

Colored Pencils Used:

Dark Umber - PC947
Sienna Brown - PC945
Ginger Root - PC1084
Cream - PC914
Black - PC935
Cool Grey 90% - PC1067
Cool Grey 70% - PC1065
Cool Grey 50% - PC1063
Cool Grey 30% - PC1061
White - PC938

Total Hours Spent: 20 hours 45 minutes

Jose is the first 8x10" pet portrait that I've done in about a year since a lot of time was dedicated to illustrating Marshall the Miracle Dog, so hopefully once I get back into the swing of things I'll bring that time back down to around about 16 hours for this size.

Until next time, Lauren H. Follow @BewareOfTrees