The Creative World of Kathleen: Day 26's "Harley" Step-by-Step

This is Harley, step-by-step created in pastels.

Giving him some breathing room so it's not a tight framing, he's approximately 12"high X 11"wide.

This is keeping in mind the other two portraits, weights of the other dogs, and the massiveness of a Great Dane compared to a tiny Chihuahua and a medium sized Terrier, so they all can be displayed next to each other with one pet not overshadowing the other.

Meet Harley!

First thing I do is study the dog and by that I mean look at where the lightest lights are, and the darkest darks, what features captures the viewer's eye, etc.

Then I begin to draw.

It has to be perfect. If you don't have a perfect base, no matter how many layers you put on, they will be wrong, so for beginning artists I highly suggest you to take your time on this step.

I wanted for everyone to see the approximate size of this pastel painting. If you do a portrait, try not to make them larger than your hand as a general rule if you want to get a good likeness.

Here I added in the eyes. I normally do that first to get a soul to the painting. It makes the portrait nearly immediately have "life".

Trying to figure out the nose from this photo she sent me wasn't easy, black doesn't reproduce well so I looked at several pictures she had of the dog posted online and that helped tremendously. It always helps an artist do better work if they have additional reference from which to work.

Here I'm working in color. From recently doing another Great Dane, I know if I add in blue to the nose, it will make it look more shiny, which also breathes life into the dog's portrait.

This is also the stage where most students lose it and give up because it looks like an alien!

But persevere and begin to blend making it soft and gentle like the dog's coat is.

Add in some darks. This is where all that studying you did on the original photo will come into play.

The simple rule is one needs to train their eye to see more. The more you see, the more you record, the more you record, the better the portrait gets.

At this point, I'm having to watch the markings on Harley, because just like as if I was working on a tiger, the markings would be important. Each marking is what makes Harley different from any other Great Dane. If you don't get that, you don't capture the likeness, and that is the whole point of doing a portrait!

Continue to blend, look for minute differences. Evert subtle difference you find will bring more expression to the pet.

He's done, and I'm going to sign it, let the owner see it. She knows the dog, I only have this one photograph to truly try to capture the dog. That's another thing, you need to stick with ONE picture to capture an image. Don't try to take the eyes from one and the nose from another! Work with the best photo you can but use the others for reference. The big difference is the owners know every expression their dog has, you don't. You need to stand firm in what is in front of you, the camera doesn't lie. I happen to think he looks adorable. How the owner is going to keep it a secret from her husband until she gives it to him for Valentine's day is beyond me!