Kobi and Diesel finished pastel

This is the finished portrait of Kobi and Diesel along with coloured collars. In the final stages of the pastel portraits a lot of additional layers of pastel are added but very little seems to change on the photos, so I tend to take the photos further apart. You can perhaps 'spot the difference' around their muzzles and neck compared to the initial stages. I hope I've captured their personalities along with their shiny coats!

Kobi and Diesel pastel

My latest pastel commission of Kobi and Diesel starts with a photo of them both looking very happy in the back of their car. The sunlight has bleached out some of the details so other photos have been used as reference alongside. After sketching their heads closer together onto A3 Ingres Pastel Paper I used my larger Conte pastel sticks to block in the light and coloured areas of the dogs. This layer was blended and corrected before black and grey areas added to the shadow areas very carefully. I swapped between Conte pastels and pastel pencils to ensure accuracy and blended with white into the highlights. They are both coming on quite well but I need to know whether to include their collars before continuing with the detail.

Robbie (Striding Edge) greyhound pastel

It's always lovely when you get a recommendation and this commission came off the back of an A4 pastel I did a while ago. The owner of this greyhound also walks the dog in the portrait I did! He wanted the same size and medium for his commission so I set too on Ingres cream pastel paper, lightly sketching the main outline before positioning the eyes and ears. I started mapping out areas of colour using Conte Pastel sticks and smudging the pastel right into the 'tooth' of the paper. I tend to work from the top left down to avoid smudging as much as possible, especially when working on light paper with dark colours, and I also like to paint the eyes near the beginning as the portrait hangs on getting these right. In the next stage I worked in different shades of greys, browns and blues into the coat to give it depth, mixing the Conte Pastels with Faber-Castell Pastel Pencils where I needed more detail. I continually check my tonal values with the photo and add blacks, whites and blues accordingly - the top coat had flecks of white and black dotted in to create the texture and detail in the coat. Finally his name and racing name to complete the portrait.