From Cell Phone Photo to Finished Portrait

In this post, I'll show how a portrait with a challenging photo reference goes from initial consultation to finished product.

My client found my work on the web and sent a cell phone photo of his two cats. He wanted a portrait of them as a Christmas gift for his wife. The photo quality wasn't optimal, but I really liked the composition. Since there was a risk of spoiling the surprise, it wasn't feasible for me to go to his house to take more photos, so I told him what his options were with the photos he could provide. He wanted a detailed portrait as opposed to something in a looser style. He had initially inquired about a mini portrait (ACEO, 3.5" x 2.5") vs. a full-sized one. Because both cats were to be in the portrait, a mini portrait wouldn't have worked, too much detail would be lost, and the proportions wouldn't fit. Due to the quality of the photo, there wasn't enough detail to go any larger than 6" x 7". He agreed to the 6" x 7".

In the photo, the grey cat has decent detail, even though the photo is grainy and a little blurry. The black cat, however, is what worried me, it's pretty tough to see much detail in her, especially in her face. When I work on a portrait, I enlarge or reduce it to the size I'll be working so I can transfer the basic outlines and details to my working surface. You can see how it would have been difficult to enlarge this photo very much and maintain enough detail for a quality portrait.

I took the photo and lightened it substantially to try to pull out some detail in the black cat.

The lighter photo helped some, but I also found some good photos of black cat faces on the web and used another photo provided by my client.

Next to the cat's face is a foot reference I found on the web, since I had to draw the rest of the grey cat's right foot. The other leg/foot is a piece I cropped out of the original photo so I could lengthen the grey cat's left leg to sit on the same plane as his right. You can see how that looks in the photo below:

And here's the a version of the photo I converted to greyscale in order to have a better idea of the tones in the portrait.

As you can see, it took some editing and research to have what I needed to complete this portrait properly. Here is the final result:

Despite some frustration, I'm happy with the portrait and my client was too. Even though I was able to pull this off, it's not something I want to tackle very often. It's certainly much easier with a good, detailed photo. Whenever possible, I take my own photos since I know what works best for a portrait and can get high quality photos with plenty of detail. Of course, that's not always possible, and over the years, I've learned to be firm in what I'm able to offer a client, based on the references they can provide. Since I offer a number of style and size options for portraits, I rarely have to tell a client "no", but it's not uncommon for me to limit their options. In the end, that results in both of us being happy.

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Pit Bull Pup - Scratchboard Drawing

Just a quick blog update today. In my previous post, I shared an in-progress image of this guy. Now he's finished! This is a 5" x 5" drawing on Ampersand Scratchbord. After scratching to block things in, I re-inked with dots (stippling) and a few scribbles to darken certain areas. Then I scratched more to soften the stippling and achieve the final result.

I'm excited about framing this one and the companion piece (his sister, also in the previous post) because when I visited my favorite frame shop (Wholesale Art & Framing in Rocklin, CA), the owner helped me pick out a gorgeous grey suede mat. I never would have thought to go with grey, since I usually use black or white for my scratchboards, but the grey looks wonderful.

Here are a couple of details of the drawing:




Here's a video of the drawing process:

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Scratchy Connections and Art

I've been in the scratchboard zone recently and it has led to a lovely article about my work. Through sharing my scratchboard works on the Ampersand Art Product's Facebook page (and group page), I made a connection with their marketing gals and it resulted in this post on Ampersand's blog. I'm truly honored to be featured and I've been very impressed with Ampersand's support of their artist customers.

In addition to the scratchboard Papillon portrait I finished recently, I joined the International Society of Scratchboard Artists (ISSA) and I've been working on two companion pieces for the April Auburn Art Walk. This one, of an 8-week-old pit bull pup, is finished and awaiting completion of her brother's portrait.


Currently Untitled, Pit Bull Pup, 5" x 5", ink on Ampersand Claybord

I met and photographed these two and their five other siblings at A New Hope Animal Foundation in 2010. They were rescued along with their mother and have since found new homes. They were 8-weeks-old at the time I took photos. This drawing isn't finished, but is a little further along than this scan. I still need to work on his face.

Work in Progress, Pit Bull Pup, 5" x 5", Ampersand Scratchbord
As is typical for me, I'm juggling a few projects (in various media) at once. I'm also creating a series of photo boards for the Art Walk (see them in my Art Walk show catalog) and nearing completion on this mixed media portrait.


Commission Work in Progress, Caesar, 5" x 5", Watercolor Art Board

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Portraits: Finished and In-Progress

Earlier today I delivered two dog portraits to a client - Gus the black lab mix & Buddha the samoyed.




I posted photos of them in the initial stages here. Both portraits are on the watercolor Art Board surface, 4" x 4". I used black Micron pen, watercolor (Dan Smith brand) and Prismacolor colored pencils.

Buddha's portrait is a gift from my client to Buddha's owner, so the photo selection was limited and not ideal since she didn't want to divulge why she wanted some photos of him. The photo that had the best expression was really dark on one side, which is why the portrait is darker on the left. Still, it works and I'm pleased with the way it turned out, and more importantly, so was my client!

Here's the reference photo (taken with a cell phone, I believe), along with a second version that I lightened in Photoshop so I could see some of the detail on the shadowed side.



And here's the reference photo for Gus:


This is another Art Board portrait in progress - I also posted the initial stage of this one in the earlier blog post, but here it is again:



This is Cali, the terrier mix. Here I've added watercolor washes on top of the ink. I'll be adding oranges and golds next. Cali is white, tan and dark brown but I'm tweaking the color palette a bit, as I like to do with this style of portrait.

And speaking of portrait styles, this is a very realistic portrait of Breezy the Arabian mare. There's still quite a bit of work left to do, but I'm really happy with the progress so far. Her mane has been a challenge because it's thick and a bit fuzzy. This drawing is approximately 7" x 7" in pencil on Stonehenge paper.

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