Two cats - first cat, continuing colored pencil

Another step in the process for you to see. It is still coming along, but I am not sure if I kept the head markings correct as compared to the photo. I will continue this, but may end up redoing it in the end. Even if that ends up happening, this will be great practice for any future renderings.

Two cats - first cat, colored pencil progressing

I have continued to layer color and work on the fur for the first of the two cats. Still a long way to go, but it is progressing well, I think.

It's always interesting to see a drawing take shape before your eyes. And for something like this, that takes a bit of time to work on, it is really helpful to set it aside overnight, or for a couple of days, and look at it with fresh eyes. You might be surprised at your reaction. In fact, last night as I worked on this, I thought - oh no, this really isn't working...but then I looked this morning and it looked much better to me! I think it still has potential and I can see the layering coming together. Like I mentioned, it has a ways to go yet, but is starting to shape up.

Two cats - beginning colored pencil

This is the start of the colored pencil work on this piece. It's definitely a learning process for myself and I hesitate to even post this because it has such a long way to go! But I think it is really helpful for others to see how a piece like this looks from early on. It will take much more layering, with additional colors to match the fur, before it really starts to look right. So, you will get to learn as I do!

As you can see, I am starting with just getting the fur pattern blocked in, along with the beginnings of shading, making sure I put my pencil strokes in the correct direction to follow the fur. This is very important to making a pet portrait look accurate. The fur contour gives form and shape to the animal's body underneath.

Pet portrait - two cats

I'm currently working on a pet portrait of two cats. I've only come as far as a preliminary sketch of each individual cat. I eventually will combine them into one composite illustration that I hope to render in colored pencil. These cats have lovely orange and white markings and I think they would be best represented in colored pencil.

House portrait - final

After waiting a few days, I decided to do some additional tweaking to this house portrait - just added a bit of shading. Here is the final version.

House portrait - inking finished

I have finished the inking for the house portrait (I think). I still feel like there might be some tweaking to do, so I am going to just let it sit for a day or two and look at it with fresh eyes to make sure there is nothing left to finish. I want to be cautious and not get too carried away with additional shading, but at the same time, sometimes one or two small changes can really improve the look. So, we shall see! The final image is approximately 9.5" X 7.5" and should fit nicely into an 11 X 14 mat.

House portrait - inking continued

This is an intermediate snapshot of the pen and ink process for my current house portrait project. Now that some of the landscaping has been inked (trees, shrubs, some grass) and more of the house is finished, it's coming together nicely. Additional shading and finishing the landscaping will complete the portrait soon.

House portrait - starting the pen and ink

I've begun the pen and ink work with this house portrait. It looks rather skeletal right now, but it will slowly fill in and really start to pop once the shading is added. Stay tuned!

House portrait - final pencil draft

I am finishing up with the pencil draft on my current house portrait. As you can see, many additional details as well as shading suggestions are included. I'll begin inking soon.

Something different - pencil portrait of my great-grandmother

This is a pencil portrait I did of my great-grandmother. The photo I worked from had her face in shadow, so I rendered it that same way. If I did it over, I might lighten the shading on her face as it may be a bit too heavy. I don't often do portraits of people, but her kind eyes and well-lived wrinkles just made me want to give it try.