24/08: JACK - BAY HORSE

This is Jack a handsome chap who has sadly passed away. His owner was the recipient of a birthday gift voucher but she doesn't have any close up/head shots of Jack so I'm working from a photo where he has a rider on board and is wearing a bridle. As a result this is done in a 'looser' style than my normal work and I'm awaiting feedback from my client regarding his colouring etc., He is A3 sized, pastels on sanded paper (Fisher 400)
The photos are taken at various times of day and in different light conditions, the paper is light sand coloured in reality

I've outlined Jack and marked in distinguishing features. As always, I've put the eyes in first to give the portrait some personality from the start. I've started building a base layer of colour using quite a lot of red shades.


More colour is being added and I've introduced some orange/yellow and brown pastel to build up a rich base which will show through the final layers of dark brown and blacks


Ive introduced blues and greys into the muzzle area and blue/grey/brown into Jack's chest area which won't be clearly defined - its there to balance up the pose as the photo of Jack is taken from his front.





Now I've really darkened the portrait and added grey and white highlights to add sheen to Jacks coat. At this stage I will wait to hear from my client whether the colour is correct. In the ref photo the colour is a bit bleached - I'm drawing what I see, but that may not necessarily be accurate.