Portrait of a Corgi named Umi
Today I am sharing a portrait I am painting of a Corgi named Umi. Umi is a girl and three years old. The painting is finished and here are several detail shots as well as work in progress shots.
You can see that I have worked in some blue tones as well as pinks and vibrant oranges, as well as real deep mauves. I love adding color to fur because I really think it really takes a portrait to another level.
The canine's nose picks up shades of the surrounding. The added color helps to build the form of the dark nose. Dogs' sense of smell overpowers our own by orders of magnitude—it's 10,000 to 100,000 times as acute, scientists say.
In the above image I am building up the yes. Getting the location of the pupils somewhat to where they need to be.
From a soft lay in of color, the next step is using a fan brush to add the soft hair of the Corgi's fur. The ear still has work to be done, but you can see how I work.
Every painting starts out with a very rough draft to get the figure in place. The abstract shapes are like a road map. They tell me which planes move in what direction and weather they need to recede or advance in the picture plane. Color is not really important as much as getting the shapes right.
