Jasper

I have been very busy since mid November. I had several pieces to complete before the holidays. One of which was on a day job referral. Jasper is a dashing Blood Hound.

I had one reference picture. When I first saw it I started giggling out loud. I love a great expression photo! This Blood Hound had attitude in spades. Look at that eyebrow! I didn't have a ton of information about him but could imagine him impatiently waiting for his supper or scratches as soon as you come through the door.

He might have been wiggly and definitely had head movement. You can see the blur of ear on his left side. His tail already a blur. I got to take creative liberty with this piece.

This portrait was 11x14 which is one of my favorite sizes to work with. We chose oil pastel to capture Jasper's rich coloring (much like the gemstone.) I managed to sketch this one quickly and started to lay color down. 

The smaller the portrait size the harder it is to get detail with oil pastel. 11x14 is the smallest I like to go unless the feeling of the portrait is to be whimsical and more illustrative like on a greeting card or children's book. At some point after the first layer or color is applied there is a point of doubt. I had it this portrait when the color stained past my initial lines. However, like they always do, it developed to a more realistic...

When I don't do the eyeballs first it always look super creepy. 

There are two parts to pencil work. The shadow/highlight and the details. I often will use white color pencil as a "blender" it can't smooth out oil pastel and add a sheer layer of white which can make the original oil color look softer. I often shade darker areas with brown, blue and purple. Adding more brown make it even harder to bring the shadows out so I had to be liberal about the blue and purple use of color pencil. Any white area had several colors to help create definition. Colors such as 2 different hues of light blues, pastel yellow, cream, 3 shades of grey, light purple, and then white.

I used the mark up feature on my phone to go back to areas that need more definition. 

The final piece! "Jasper" 11x14 Oil Pastel and Color Pencil

Detail Shots:

I eagerly await the verdict if my client's loved one found Jasper's portrait as charming as I have. He was given as a Christmas gift. I may be adding more to this post in the future if I get my favorite real life Jasper posing next to his portrait picture.