Pet Portraits in progress

Pet portraits are something that I have had bouncing around in my head for a while now. One of the little side projects that pop up to keep life interesting. I could have used images of my cats but thought it would be a greater challenge soliciting images from others. I had a couple of goals in mind. To take a photoshop brush set for a test drive and see which brushes would be useful and which ones to discard. Also, to find a way of eliminating pencil lines from my drawings. This would be a step in learning to create in a different way.

Figaro
Figaro
Reference photo of Figaro

When I started on the black and white cat I didn’t want to just posterize Figaro. Although that would have been a nice effect. I still wanted to have the fur highlights. There are no shadows on a black cat. The separation between black and white is very pronounced so I was able to erase the pencil lines quite easily on this cat. This image had a nice balance and I was happy with the color combination.

Figaro black and white cat
Figaro


Izzy
Izzy
Reference Photo of Izzy

I struggled on this one. You would be surprised how very little “white” there is on a white dog. Izzy took me three tries to get it right. My first attempt still had too many pencil lines. Although I came pretty close on the first drawing, I felt there was still something off. At this point, I wasn’t sure what it was. The eyes, the fur direction? I was still working it as a drawing and Izzy needed more painterly fluff. I tried adding more shading and larger areas of fur for fluff but this second version was still falling short.

So, I started over. No pencil this time. I blocked in the main colors and started shading and contrast. It took a while to figure out how to use the brushes but persistence paid off. I did a lot of experimenting which resulted in some aha moments. The brushes started making sense. I am very satisfied with the final outcome on this one.

Fluffy white dog
Izzy


Phyllis
Phyllis
Reference photo of Phyllis

The third drawing was of the dog in the snow. Phyllis was a challenge also. There was a point about halfway through that the drawing was becoming a bit of a train wreck. That is when I had to go back and study the reference photo and figure out what I was doing wrong. I erased a section of snow on her nose and started over. Draw what you see and not what you think you know. I may have been trying to wing it a bit. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts.

I am still getting used to the new brushes. Hopefully, at some point, I will pick up speed.

Dog with snow
Phyllis enjoying the snow


So now I have three pet portraits under my belt. I have already learned a lot that I can apply to future digital drawings. It will be interesting to see how the pet portraits evolve over time. Three more portraits coming up. Feel free to leave a comment.