It is always lovely to receive feedback from clients. Every single one of my commissions are created with care and you do get attached to the pet. You know you're unlikely to ever meet them in the flesh, but could pick them out in a crowd, having spent so many hours staring at and creating, their beautiful faces with all their tiny markings and (im)perfections. A thank you from a happy customer is a celebratory one. The fact that someone takes the time to send an email and to tell me how well the portrait was received, always brings a great sigh of relief knowing that they appreciated the time spent on the portrait. I thought I would share it here. Here is the framed portrait of Dougal, a Red Fox Labrador completed in coloured pencils. What a beautiful dog he is. If you want to see more of my coloured pencil art (including Rua, Dougal's sister), click here. If you are thinking of booking your own bespoke commission, find out more here. A BIG THANK YOU to Karen for her fantastic piece of work to complete |
Buddy the Springer Spaniel - 11" x 14"Buddy's portrait was created using 5 different photographs. The body taken from this photo, the head from another, the tail from a third, the background from a fourth and some of the background flowers from a fifth image, all cut and pasted together to create the mock up of the reference image. Doing this can throw a whole lot of problems into the mix as different images can have different lighting, luckily I was able to ensure the correct balance as I was provided with lots of great quality photos that i could pull detail from. As you would suspect the grass took the longest as each blade of grass was applied individually and this was done in 3 layers so individually repeated 3 times! |
"I'm sitting looking at Buddy in pride of place on the wall, photo attached! It is absolutely lovely and it had the desired effect on Steve when he unwrapped - there were tears!! Everyone that has seen it has said how amazing it is with the amount of fine detail and so Buddy. If I manage to get a decent photo of Buddy next to it I will send it on! Thank you once again, it is lovely to have a painting of Buddy forever."
Esther
Dudley the Springer Spaniel - 9" x 12" in AcrylicsThis was a lovely composition but a tiny photo meaning that it pixelated when zooming in and the detail was lost in the face, especially around the eyes. The Commissionee loved the composition so much that I decided to see what I could do and asked if she could send some close up photos of Dudley taken in a less sunny environment and using all the photos together, I elaborated on the background/foreground somewhat and toned down the colouration on his head whilst still keeping the favoured stance. This was a challenge but I really loved the composition too and was happy with the final painting. |
"Just wanted to let you know that mum loves her portrait and we all cried our eyes out when we first saw it. What you've done is so special and we couldn't have asked for a better painting to remember him by. It captures his brilliant personality so well. I'll definitely be recommending you to my spaniel loving friends!
Picture of framed painting to follow soon!
Andrea xx."
The customer only had a few photos of Kita, having recently lost her, and I was limited to flash photos. The reference image was a good pose, but as flash distorts colour and detail, I had to research the breed and add a little artistic licence. The image was also slightly out of focus, but I found that I was able to apply a lot of detail by overworking the fur, and the final portrait was far more detailed than I thought possible. The final painting was framed in a black moulding called ASHGATE, which accentuated the light tones in Kita's fur. |
"Hi Karen, I just wanted you to know that I absolutely love my painting of Kita. Thank you so much, you have done the most amazing portrait of him. He was my best friend and my little boy and the painting has been hung in the living room so we can all admire him everyday! Thank you again xx"
Diarmid E-mailed me a great photo of himself, his girlfriend Max and their little French Bulldog Kyla stood in front of the famous red phone box from the film 'Local Hero' when they visited Pennan in Aberdeenshire. As the phone box only covered half the background and the other half would add nothing to the composition it was decided to leave the background out completely and simply write 'Pennan' in the corner of the portrait. As mobile phone images tend to 'flatten' detail, the fineness of the Coloured pencils brought back the sharpness of detail and I really enjoyed creating this portrait - I always love a challenge! |
"Hi Karen , Hope you had a lovely Christmas. Wanted to drop you a note to say that Max absolutely loved the portrait! She couldn't believe how well you'd captured the detail from the photo and was thrilled to pieces! We've already recommended you to friends and family and am sure we'll use your amazing skills again in the the future. Have a great New Year!! Diarmid"
This portrait was the last drawing I completed for Christmas and depicts 2 Bearded Collie's called Pyppa (L) & William (R) completed in Coloured pencils. I had taken some photos of them both a year earlier but as William (R) is a rather nervous little boy, I struggled to get any close ups of him. trying to distinguish between them after a year was a challenge too! I was provided with a few great quality photos which I could also use to add in their eyes a little more too. |
"Thank you so much for my beautiful portrait, you've really excelled yourself this time, its amazing!"
Step by Step Coloured Pencil Tutorial |
Prismacolor Premier Coloured PencilsPrismacolor Premier pencils are probably America's most popular coloured pencils, after buying and trying them out, find out what my thoughts are on these pencils. |
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Starting Out With Acrylic PaintsAre you thinking of trying out a new medium or looking to take up acrylic paints as a complete beginner to art? You can find lots of information on what product requirements you need as well as some helpful hints and tips to help you get the best out of your new medium. Most importantly when buying an acrylic paint range I explain what the differences are between cheap/student acrylics & professional/artists quality paints. Acrylics are a great medium as they offer fast drying results with great colour vibrancy which can be applied to achieve an oil style painting or a watercolour, versatility for everyone! |
Newsletters are sent out every quarter or whenever art workshops are available to view, subscribers will NEVER be spammed by us, and your E-mail address will only be used through the Step by Step Art website and NEVER sold on to third parties.
Murphie - Large Traditional Heart Memorial portrait
"Murphie arrived home safe and sound this afternoon and what can I say. The photos were fantastic but she is even better now I can see her in "close up". I always knew it would be hard to lose Murphie after having her in my life for 20 years but I didn't fully appreciate just how big of a hole she would leave behind. Your painting has given me little bit of my girl back and I can't seem to tear my eyes away from it at the moment. I attach a photo so that you can see that she arrived unscathed and thank you again for everything. You made the process so easy from start to finish and you took good care of my girl and have created a truly fitting memorial to her and for that I am so grateful" |
Bailey - 10" x 12" Coloured pencil pet portrait
" Bailey just arrived! Well, about 15 minutes of tape removal ago. We are so chuffed! Bailey was loved by all of us, but loves my husband best, he was over the moon! We are blessed by your talent!
I just love him! Thank you so much! xxxx"
Obe - 11" x 14" Boxer Dog Acrylic painting
"Hi Karen, Your painting brought tears to my eyes and a huge smile to my lips. Thank you! I love it. He's home and on my wall." |
Acrylic paintings
Coloured pencil portraits
If you wish to view more of my pencil drawings, you can find more at the COLOURED PENCIL GALLERY
This is the latest pencil portrait I have been working on recently. This is an Airedale/Paterdale Terrier cross dog called Dave, being completed in coloured pencils. I was lucky enough to meet Dave and take some photographs of him, and got some great images, with lots of natural colour and detail, which is highly recommended. I always begin every pencil portrait by laying down the base tones. Once all these layers have been applied, I then begin by adding in the fine detail to achieve the realism in all my portraits. Coloured pencil portraits are created on acid free, archival paper using lightfast quality pencils and if framed correctly, a pencil portrait can last a lifetime, if protected & cared for correctly. You can find more details about my portraits, on my COMMISSIONS page or fill in the form to request a no-obligation quote. |
Help and advice is at hand if so....
- I need to have a range that allows multiple layering
- I need them to blend well for backgrounds and skin tones
- Will work well with fixative
- The pencils must be extremely lightfast and the colours strong
- Need soft and hard pencils for different areas of my work
- Black & White Test
- Hardness V's Softness
- 10 layer test - 'Mixed' layering
- Fixative test
- Blendability
The very popular Prismacolor Premier & Verithin ranges will also be added to this article very soon and an adaptation of this article (with even more information in) will be available to view and purchase (download or hard copy) from the USA's Colored pencil Magazine 'Student' version in the next few months.
Find out more about this magazine here: Colored pencil magazine - Student Edition
I was approached by the editor of America's Colored pencil Magazine to be their featured Artist in the June issue (2015), this is a wonderful magazine for Coloured pencil enthusiasts and I was honoured! Most of my Artwork included in the magazine was created especially for this purpose and as such, some pieces of Art have never been seen before. The cover image was actually the completed recce piece of a Coloured pencil Workshop that I ran last year in Chesterfield and completed only for use in the Magazine. If you would like to purchase a copy you can do so in 2 ways - via a Printed copy (1 - 2 weeks delivery) or download the digital copy right away - prices are as follows: |
Printed copy $5.99 £3.87* Delivery (1 - 2 weeks) £2.96*
Digital copy $2.99 £1.93*
*prices may vary due to exchange rate
Author
Karen M Berisford
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