I've neglected my blog (among other things) for way too long now. That's a story for another day. So to get back into it I'm going to start with showing you my avatar painting. I get questioned about it so much that I thought this would be good place to start. This is colored pencil done over a light watercolor under-painting. Prismacolor pencils, Fabriano Uno 300lb. hot press watercolor paper, 7" x 8 1/2".
First off the under-painting, ha, doesn't look like much now does it? That eye kinda looks spooky and his nose looks like it belongs on a pig.
This is after the first wash of pencil, I just had to do something about that eye staring back at me. (besides I think I almost always do the eyes first anyway, if I screw them up there's not much reason to continue on)
A few more layers of pencil, I think I used mainly Warm Grey's. Weimaraners are the most unusual color. He's a Blue and depending on the time of day he can be either cool (blue) grey or warm grey toned. In fact in some pictures he really does look blue.
Here I've started defining the nose and veins in his ear along with deepening some of the shadows.
a little more work on his nose
All done!
I think I must have gotten busy and forgot to scan between the last two but there are several more layers of pencil. I don't normally like doing a "straight-on" view, but I think it works for this one.
This is Cooper, my Blue Weimaraner that is a Rescue from Midwest Paws and my Shop's namesake, my lifesaver, and best friend. Note-cards and prints of this are available in my Etsy Shop
fantastic rendering! love this one, Heather. I haven't tried Fabriano - I'm in love w/Stonehenge. But I do like the idea of the underpainting, I'm sure it saved time.
ReplyDeleteAw Thank You! Fabriano Uno has less tooth than Stonehenge and takes watercolor better but I think it takes less in CP layers. I started out doing underpaintings because I didn’t like the look of the white showing through my artwork, now I do it because it's easier on the hand and saves a little time. When I’m done you never see the watercolor, good thing, as I’m just NOT a painter! They quit making the Uno quite a while ago (this was my last little piece I think) Fabriano Artistico is supposed to be the replacement. I’ve started using it, it’s not quite the same but close. You should give it a try! Both the underpainting and Fabriano ;-)
DeleteThis is beautiful. I never thought of doing an underpainting for a colored pencil painting. I love the look of colored pencil but don't have the patience it takes. Maybe I'll try it again using the underpainting
ReplyDeleteThank You Nancy, I just checked out your work and it is wonderful!
ReplyDeleteHaHa I'm one of the most impatient people around! But for some reason I can pick up a pencil and get totally lost in time. CP is sooo slow.