I gifted a portrait of this sweetie pie to my one of my best friends, Laura, and her husband, Chris. It was delivered a little late due to a couple rounds of sickness in the Tomaino household. It was worth the wait.
I got a picture of Riley, fresh from the groomer. I have the before and after shot. Riley is a Yorkie mix and gets longer face hair. She still had some wispies over her eybrows and throughout her chest so I was able to get into detail with lines in those areas. Isn't she cute? Her ears are HUGE and I love them!
I decided to work with the colors in her collar for the background on this portrait. The litte lady looks lovely with a pink and purple back drop.
I love to document my process and give sneak peaks on my Instagram.
Work in progress shots:
I utilize a photo editor app on my phone to find "fix spots" and I circle them. The eyes of course, are always the tricky part. I ended up brightening them a lot by "blending" with a white or almost white color pencil. I found that "blending" with white pencil in general really made this portrait work. It softens hard lines and dulls heavy colors. I send pictures to my Mom and my bestie, Kim, in most cases when my eyes don't want to work anymore and there was a tiny adjustment that made a huge impact. Kim was freaking out over the hair detail (A great confidence boosting freak out) and my Mom found the detail that finished Riley for me.
I had too many teeth.
Riley has a narrow jaw. Once it was fixed I had my "and if I touch it anymore I will ruin it" moment. I usually think I'm done several times before this moment happens but one area will nag me when I look at the piece. Its like and extension to my "stare and tweak" stage. Brutal! However, it usually leads to beautiful results. One of those beautiful results ere the reflection in her eyes. I have a whole new appreciation for white color pencil after this, you have no idea! I love love love how this turned out.
Laura and Chris did too.
(Riley next to her portrait for at least one photo.)
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