Tracy's Pet Portraits

Pastel Painting of a Tabby Cat - Demonstration

1. Tabby cat painting in pastel,I hope you find this use full Kerry or anyone else who might be interested, First of all sketch out your tabby cat or pet
2. Then do a tonal drawing by this i mean grey scale different tones as an under painting, if you have a photo then you can convert it to grey scale, that might help. or perhaps try looking at it with sunglasses on to distract fro the colour.
3. once i am happy with the tonal picture then i start to add colour, in this painting i have used two shades of brown, a green and a burgundy, which might sound strange but it gives depth to the painting, the eyes are the most important part of a portrait as this is the soul of the pet and lots of attention needs to paid here making sure that the light and shadows are in the right area's check out your photo the make sure you get it right.
4. once i am happy with the colours then i go back in and strengthen the darks and lights and add any finishing touches like whiskers and the odd bit of fur.