Portrait Tutorial...Shar Pei

Orion and Yuki...
Work in Progress Tutorial
This is a commissioned piece that I did in 2006. I took photos as I worked, keeping the customer informed of my progress. I'm moving the WIP photos here to my blog from the "Portrait Preview" section of my website. The portrait of Orion and Yuki is an example of how I combine photos. I have included the reference photos used, step by step drawing instructions and a little about taking photos of animals.

Studio Notes: I used Strathmore 400 acid free drawing paper for this drawing because of its texture. Other materials used: Wolf's Carbon Pencils...2, 4, and 6B, incising tool, Graphite Pencil for layout...#F, chamois and felt squares, medium and small artist brushes, kneaded eraser, click eraser, Union eraser, and BlueTack, stump and tortillon, artist tape, and of course "my carbon farm".

Choosing Reference Photos:
Close to 100 photos were sent to me as reference over a two week period. I chose three to use as my final reference for this drawing. I also had several photos of them together, which gave me the reference needed to show how they related to each other in size. In this case Yuki, the female is considerably larger than Orion.

Orion was difficult to get a good photo of. His coat being black and close to the body washed out easily in the midday sun and the flash wasn't much better. Notice the two photos of him, the first was taken on a gray over cast day...(not nearly enough light), the second was taken either early morning or late afternoon...(you can tell by the length of the shadows), both lighting and color are much better. You can see the natural reflexions and texture of his beautiful black coat, his muscular body, and good definition of those lovely Shar Pei wrinkles. The other important thing to take note of is the angle of the shot...NEVER stand directly over your pet, get down to their eye level or just a little above. Get on the ground if necessary or put them on a table.

Working with Yuki's photos was pretty straight forward. Her coat showed up well because of it's color and texture, especially against the dark background. Notice again, the long shadows...time of day is everything.

We did have to have a little talk with her about posing. One of Yuki's most noticeable characteristics is her "large nose". Although natural for her bloodline, we didn't want her nose to dominate the portrait. In the final photo shoot she held her head just a little to the side and we got the perfect shot.

Composition Preview:
In this commission there were several things effecting the composition of the drawing. The finished size is always the first consideration and in this case how I was going to set the two subjects up was the next consideration. The finished layout ended up being 13x15, just a couple of inches off square.

When doing a composition preview, I always set it up one of two ways. I will either do a "loose" sketch or if possible I do a photo work-up showing how the subjects will be combined. In this case I actually printed, cut, and taped the sections together! You will notice that for Orion I used the body of one photo and the head of another. I wanted him looking a little more towards Yuki, yet I wanted to see his tail up.

I then photographed my composite and printed it the actual size that the finished drawing would be, and placed it in a mat for approval. I like doing it this way when possible. It gives the customer a visual of the final composition that they can relate to...sometimes a quick preliminary line drawing is difficult for them to comprehend.

WIP...#1
Absolutely accurate, detailed line drawing.
It isn't unusual for me to spend a day or two working on the line drawing. I like to set it aside for a time. When I go back for a second and third look, many times I will see small changes that need to be made...these will matter in the end.

Carbon Pencil is a very unforgiving medium to work with. When you place it on the paper, especially as dark as Orion is, it's very difficult if not impossible to remove. My line drawing must be absolutely accurate and complete as possible. You'll notice, when you click to expand the image to your left, that I've even included some of the more important shadow shapes and "positioned" the wrinkles. Before I start drawing, I lighten the area I'm going to work on first with a kneaded eraser.

Studio Notes: Tricking your eye...
When I know things just aren't right, but I can't see what's wrong...there are two things I do.
1. I take a digital photo of the drawing and look at it on the computer screen. Even before placing it side by side with the reference photo I am usually able to see my error.
2. Turn the drawing and reference photo upside down. If you still don't see your error, start taking measurements of the area you are questioning...comparing them with your reference photo. If this doesn't work...walk away for a few hours.

WIP...#2
I really intended to take a photograph sooner, but I got into the drawing and didn't want to stop. As you can see, I've done a lot of work on Orion. I applied 6B carbon, with the pencil itself, directly to the darkest areas of the shadows in his coat, starting with the face and blended towards the lighter areas using a stump. Then using the stump again, I picked up additional color from my "carbon farm" and applied it in the "folds of the wrinkles" and blended outward. I used a folded chamois square and kneaded eraser to pull some highlights on the ridges of the wrinkles.

Orion's coat appears sleek and shiny but we need some indication of hair or he's going to look like a shiny black car! I used a click eraser to make the illusion of tiny hairs, blended carefully with a piece of felt and reapplied carbon with a stump. I repeated this process several times on his face and body. There is still considerable work to be done on Orion...but need to let it rest for awhile an move on to Yuki.

I've worked some on Yuki...beginning with her beautiful nose. As with Orion, I applied 6B carbon direct to the paper with the pencil for the darkest lines and shadows. I then used a stump to blend and soften, and kneaded eraser to pull highlights.

WIP...#3
Here is an update on Yuki. I spent 6 more hours on just her face. She is going to take much more time than Orion. In the drawing of Orion, it's mainly shadows and highlights, with a few indications of hair. With Yuki, it is ALL about the hair, with a few shadows and highlights. What can I say...some women are just high-maintenance!

(a)I've continued to define the darkest shadows and lines on Yuki's face, using a 6B carbon pencil applied directly to the paper for her eye and ear...blending with a stump as mentioned above. (b)Using a folded chamois square, I've developed the basic shadow shapes on her head and face, pulled some hairs with a click eraser and carefully drawn in some "shadow hairs" with the point of a stump. I will continue to add and remove color until I get the look I want...developing shadow and highlight masses along the way.

Using the chamois and carbon from the "farm", I've worked on the background some on Yuki's side of the page to help me get a feel for the tone values needed for her head.

WIP...#4
I've continued to work down Yuki's body using the same techniques as stated above in step (b). This step will be repeated many times. Yuki's collar and tag are fairly well defined and I've added more color to the background above her head. I have added more color to Orion's body, smoothing and defining the muscles. He also now has a back leg.

Notice Yuki's whiskers...I used an incising tool before I started applying color to Orion's body...making "whisker" like strokes on the paper. This leaves an indentation in the paper, and if you're careful to apply the carbon gently, will preserve fine lines like whiskers. (The color will "skip" over the top of the indented area, leaving it white...or at least close.) I also used this method in small amounts along the side of Yuki's body overlapping Orion's leg.

WIP...#5
I've worked again on Orion, deepened some of the shadow shapes, added more indications of hair on his body. I added more little hairs along the outside edge of this tail. Still not happy, will return to him later.

Yuki is still a work in progress. I've applied carbon from "the farm" using a stump and tortillon in layers, going in the direction of the hair growth. I then go back in and remove tiny hairs using both the Union and click eraser. Each time this is repeated the drawing becomes more defined and realistic. When you click to expand the drawing you will notice that parts of her coat are still in the first stages of this process.

I think there needs to be something connecting them to the ground...I'm considering adding a few of the cinder block bricks that Orion is standing on in some of the reference photos.

Orion and Yuki:
Final Preview

This is the finished portrait of Orion and Yuki. As mentioned earlier, I did go ahead and add some bricks for them to stand on. I deepened the background behind Yuki to make her stand out better and added more color to Orion. I still have a little final tweaking to do, probably only something I would notice. At this stage many times I use BlueTack in a "dabbing" motion to lift very subtle light areas.

By the way...Orion and Yuki are the proud parents of five puppies.

This was a long post as most of my tutorials are. I don't know if the process is long or if I am just "long winded"! I hope you enjoyed reading the tutorial and that you learned at least one new thing of value.

If you you would like to see more tutorials like this, let me know.


PS...make a "Point"...leave a comment