I added the finishing touches to this portrait last night! There is nothing more satisfying than finishing a drawing and taking it down off my drawing board 😀 It took me a while to come up with a name for this one… but I think the name “Faith” is pretty apt, don’t you? The original piece is up for sale on my ebay page, please check it out if you’re interested!

The reference I used was from wildlifereferencephotos.com. When I first saw the photo I was desperate to draw it! The dog looks so full of life and has such a gorgeous expression. I just hope I did it justice!

If you remember me mentioning a few blog posts ago, this portrait was also my first time using Fabriano Artistico paper rather than my usual Bristol Vellum. I think I can safely say that I much prefer it to the Bristol Vellum! It felt like I could layer coloured pencil endlessly on this paper which made it so easy to get details in. Definitely recommended.

Here’s the step-by-step process for this piece:

I also recorded all of the pencils I used for this portrait, just for interest’s sake. I used around 40 different colours for this portrait. It just goes to show that there is no magic “perfect” colour, you have to blend a lot of colours together to create depth in your piece.

Faber Castell Polychromos:

Black, dark sepia, burnt umber, dark indigo, venitian red, burnt ochre, brown ochre, cinnamon.

Caran D’ache Pablo:

Indigo blue, raspberry pink, cocoa, ochre, russet, apricot.

Caran D’ache Luminance:

White, titanium buff,primrose, brown ochre 10%, brunt ochre 10%, brown ochre 50%, burnt ochre 50%, burnt sienna 10%, sepia 10%, sepia 50%, sepia, french grey, raw umber 50%, cassed earth, crimson aubergine, violet grey, anthraquinoid pink, apricot, brown ochre, raw sienna, burnt ochre, burnt sienna, russet, french grey 30%, olive brown 10%, burnt sienna 50%