Pet Portrait
So this little pup died last year. This portrait was a request by one of my sisters-in-law to memorialize her roommate's dog. She lived to be about 21 years old.
I didn't think to start a blog while I was working on this piece over the last few weeks, so there is no step-by-step. She is a great example of black fur, though.
There isn't actually a lot of black in her fur. There is a light layer at the very end of things, but underneath her fur is LF Midnight Black (which is actually a super dark indigo), LF Nightshade (which reminds me of the Terry Ludwig eggplant coloured pastel everyone loves), PC Ultramarine Blue (that was the first colour to go down), and I think there some DD Ruby Earth...and eventually LF Black and DD Ivory Black after at least 10 + layers of the other colours in various places.
Her little nose was PC Ultramarine and Cold Grey II, LF Midnight Black, and finally, DD Ivory Black, Light Grey, and Chinese White.
We delivered her to my sister-in-law this afternoon, and I'm excited and nervous for her roommate to see it. Pet portraits are nerve-wracking because 99.9% of the requests I get are for deceased pets. That adds a layer to it. Of course, most people are taking pictures of their pets with phone cameras, in poses that might be nice to look at on Facebook but are hell for an artistic reference. I had a hell of a time figuring out her little face because of that, but here she is.
Wish me luck!