Monday, July 31, 2017

Pet Portraits - Jake!

I spent some time over the last week working on a commissioned piece for a friend - this was a first for me in many ways, but it was so much fun to put my skills to practice, and to come up with a portrait I'm really proud of! Here's Jake:


I decided to work on matboard, because it's got a great texture, and it's very durable for lots of layers of color. I did my underpainting with watercolors, just to get the blocks of color where I wanted them, and to avoid having white show through where the dog just wasn't white.


From there I moved to colored pencil, and I found that I preferred the harder, oil-based lead of Polychromos pencils. I do have a few other brands mixed in though! These are the colors that I used:


Here's a picture mid-process - if you ever want to follow the progress of my work, please follow me on Instagram! I love sharing over there, and I've got another project ready to go! Here I've started deepening the color in the face and adding in details. I really had to start with the eyes, to give him some life and personality.


After more patient layering, I worked my way down, finishing off with that gorgeous thick ruff. Such a beautiful boy.


If you're interested in having a pet portrait done, please contact me - I'd be happy to work with you!

Thanks for stopping by!

12 comments:

  1. HOW BEAUTIFUL DINA! THANK YOU for showing us!I'm SURE your friend is QUITE HAPPY with the end result! The EYES, REALLY DO bring him to life! WONDERFULLY DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;)

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  2. Adorable with amazing detail and highlights. I love Jake's shiny expressive eyes and bit of a smile. Such a friendly beautiful and well loved pet :-) TFS Dina. You have created another beautiful "Work of Art". Jake's photo will be treasured! Hugs

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  3. I know that dog! You really captured him. He is a sweetie.

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    1. Isn't it amazing! It looks just like him!

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  4. beautiful portrait! curious as to what you would charge? I would love to give my husband one as a gift, our border collie Buddy, and our border collie and cock-a-poo that have crossed the rainbow bridge, all together in one portrait.

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    1. Pricing is based on size and number of subjects - if you'll email me at info@dinakowalcreative.com I can send you more info. :)

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  5. Absolutely beautiful portrait of Jake. You really captured the look of a loving best friend of man.

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  6. I don't even know what to say or how to express my gratitude that you said "yes" to creating this beautiful masterpiece of our sweet boy Jake. My heart is so full! I will have it framed and then save it for a Christmas present for my hubby. I hope someone has a video of him when he opens it! I think their will be man tears.

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