Lilly's Portrait

I must admit I was pretty happy when the beautiful Lillly the dachshund came into my mailbox for her A4 Colour Pencil pet portrait commission. Dachshunds have always been a favourite dog of mine, and I just love how much character Lilly has in her pics!

Lilly was a surprise gift for the client's friend so I had to keep her progress pics quiet on my social channels not to spoil the surprise.

If you would like your very own pet portrait in the same style of Lilly, you can order yours on my website here :)

I know my followers like to see some 'behind the scenes' of how I create a portrait from scratch so I'm sharing some pics from along the way. You will see from here that every portrait begins with a pencil sketch to determine the shapes within the portrait, along with masking areas for shadows and highlights. I then always begin laying details into the eyes which are the most important part of the portrait, is these aren't right there is no point continuing with the rest. After the eyes are the right resemblance, and the client is happy (I will always email updates), I then start to lay in the block colours, these form the undertones of the dog's coat and give the final result the warmth and glow within. The portrait then goes through many stages of layering up these colours, and laying down heavier layers within the shadowed and detailed areas.

Finally I start laying down many lines of fur, following the natural directions within the coat, and finish up with more white highlights (particular around the eyes and the nose) that need to be emphasised, along with adding the whiskers.