Step by step demo of Lucas

I'm adding this demo to show you my process when creating an animal painting from scratch. Scroll down to see the demo step by step from the reference photo to the finished painting. Hope you enjoy it!


The reference photo

I paint from sharp photos with good lighting, and take a lot of ref pics myself. This is my own photo of my cat Lucas. Lucas is having a nap on the couch, with the sun peaking through the window. A good photo is important to get the best results possible, and I prefer working from digital photos in large sizes.



Step 1

I always start with the eyes. The eyes tells the story of the animals personality,and I always finish the eyes before I move on to ensure I get the likeness right away. Eyes are also fun to do, getting the colour, the shape and the light reflected is both challenging and fun to do! I work from a basic grahite drawing, sometimes I'll transfer the drawing bit by bit, sometimes I'll transfer all of it right away, depending of the level of realism I'm aiming for. Lucas was transfered bit by bit.
Lucas is painted on velour paper, which has a fluffy surfaces and works very well for fur.



Step 2

After finishing the eyes the work is basically to work in the fur. Keeping track of the patterns and colours, and getting down the direction of the fur. I layer in colours from dark to light, mixing different colours as I go. I keep track of where the light hits the fur and work in the highlights. I'll usually finish one part before moving on. For black spots in the fur I mix in some blue aswell, I think it makes a richer black. I'll start working on the background early in the process, to get a good impression on how the background colours effects the colours of the animal.



Step 3

More work on the fur, and have finished the ears. Ears can be difficult sometimes, to get the shadows and colours right. Here I've finished the background and painted hairs over it, to get a more realistic look.



Step 4

Working downwords now, have finished the nose and mouth area, most of the fur is done, and I've put in the whiskers. I'll keep the biggest contrasts in colours around the eyes and nose, to keep focus there. Here I've painted the fur around the face softer, with less details. This is done also to keep focus on the eyes in this particular piece. I won't always use this approach, some paintings are kept in a realistic style all over, some more painterly.



Finished painting

At the end I'll work all over the painting, making sure it all comes together. I might put in some fur strokes, sharpen up the eyes and patterns. Soft pastels makes a lot of dust, and some of it might smudge during the prosess - so basically just some cleaning up and polishing is needed before I sign it.