Many people have been inquiring about how long a portrait takes to create from start to finish and questions on how I work. Like any project, a lot depends on the size, characteristics of the animal (detailing) and coloring (a light colored animal and a black animal are drawn completely different). I decided to create a page so you can see the different stages of my "Cody" portrait (the piece that inspired me to share my talents). The framed piece measures 18 x 22 and took me approximately 35 + hours from start to finish.
I begin by roughly sketching the entire animals head and neck and then fill in some detailing marks to create where the different muscles and shading will go. Typically I work from left to right, top to bottom. But as you can see on this portrait I did things a little different. The eyes of the animal really help me capture their personality and since the photo I worked from was a side view of the horse, I started on the right and worked my way left. Since I am right handed and I work in graphite, I have to be careful not to rub my hand against any area I've drawn on because it will smear the graphite and all detail will be lost. Erasing can also cause problems because it starts to break down the paper so I use a lot of caution when working on my portraits. I work by adding a little color at a time until I'm sure of the placement of my lines and shading before going darker and lastly adding the darkest details. That helps to alleviate any need to erase.
Like any creative process I learn more as I go. My pieces have become more detailed and instead of shading a large area I am now drawing individual hairs and overlapping them to create the shading and muscle form. I also pay close attention to the direction of the hair which alone creates lifelike movement in my pieces. Although it adds many hours to the pieceI feel that this detail enhances my pet portraits and adds more life into them. My work is not based on how many hours I can give to a project, but how much detail is needed to capture the true essence of my subjects. I become very attached to my subjects and put a lot of my heart into creating each hand drawn portrait.
Throughout this wonderful experience I've met (if only in pictures) some of the most loving animals in the world. These animals have all been such an inspiration to me and I hope that in some way they have
touch you as well.
