Kelly's portrait is for a Christmas gift and I want it to be perfect, of course. Trying to determine her coloring has been a bit touch and go as each of the photos I received from the owner has been pretty different. She also sent a link to a dog online that she said she thought had similar coloring. So, I hope I got it right. The biggest challenge has been the dark areas.
The owner said Kelly's dark areas had gotten darker as she aged and she didn't want them as dark as they show in the reference photo. I've lightened them considerably and, again, hope they're what the customer wants. It's really difficult when the reference photos show one thing and the client's memory is different.
I'm also still working on the Cotons and will be posting a wip of that painting in the near future since I told a couple of regular readers that I would. I've just gotten the color choices for the bows in the little girl Coton's pigtails though so I haven't done enough on her for you to see much right now. I've made a pretty good start on the little boy though.
I'm really staying busy right now but will update here as soon as I can.
3 comments:
You have done a fantastic job on Kelly. I sympathise with your task of getting her colouring correct - the last (deceased) Golden Retriever commission I undertook was similar. I worked to the colour in the ref photo and kept getting told she was 'brighter' in reality ... got there in the end though.
Look forward to seeing the Coton de Tulears pictures when you're ready to post
It's looking very good, Jan. I hope it's ok to mention one thing I would add though. If not, please forgive me. One thing I was told by my photography instructor was to always show a catch light in the eyes. It just gives the eyes life. Other than that the portrait looks very sweet, and I imagine the owners are very pleased with it.
Thanks, Ladies. I finally got it right, I guess, Sue as the portrait has been approved.
Thank you, Christine, you know I value you anything you have to say. I hadn't added the catchlight or any shading in the eyes as the owner was still debating the eye color. All of the ref photos were hard copies and were either flash photos or in weird areas with sun and shade combinations so eye and fur color were a real problem. The dog crossed the Bridge about 5 years ago so we couldn't look to see what the colors actually were. The owner has said she's thrilled but hasn't seen the portrait in person yet so we'll see how it goes.
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