Chow Portrait in Progress
23 April, 2010 Filed in: Dogs
I'm nearly finished my portrait of Little Ann. I've been filming the painting and will have a video to post when the painting is complete.
Little Ann has a sandy colored coat with a lot of depth to it. I started by painting in my usual purple-toned underpainting. For Little Ann, I used rusty undertones around the ears and nose. Here's a still from the video, with my easel in the background:
Next, I painted in the high-contrast areas of her face using black and dark brown. Once I was happy with the overall size and positioning of her features, I started on the fur texture. Up to this point, it's wise to use a medium to large brush and work quickly, so you don't get bogged down in details.
With fur and hair, I find it's easiest to paint in the darkest tones first and add lighter layers on top for a three-dimensional look. I added lighter and darker layers while the paint was still wet, so that I could adjust the blending in. Too much blending will result in a flat look, so don't overdo it. With acrylics, it's helpful to add a bit of blending medium (also called retarder) to your paint to slow the drying time.
I added some whiter areas around her eyebrows, and darker areas around her ears. Here's my portrait of Little Ann, just before adding the background:
Little Ann has a sandy colored coat with a lot of depth to it. I started by painting in my usual purple-toned underpainting. For Little Ann, I used rusty undertones around the ears and nose. Here's a still from the video, with my easel in the background:
Next, I painted in the high-contrast areas of her face using black and dark brown. Once I was happy with the overall size and positioning of her features, I started on the fur texture. Up to this point, it's wise to use a medium to large brush and work quickly, so you don't get bogged down in details.
With fur and hair, I find it's easiest to paint in the darkest tones first and add lighter layers on top for a three-dimensional look. I added lighter and darker layers while the paint was still wet, so that I could adjust the blending in. Too much blending will result in a flat look, so don't overdo it. With acrylics, it's helpful to add a bit of blending medium (also called retarder) to your paint to slow the drying time.
I added some whiter areas around her eyebrows, and darker areas around her ears. Here's my portrait of Little Ann, just before adding the background:
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