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Making a Memorial
 Pet and Wildlife Art

 

 

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On this page you will be able to see the progress of a memorial as it progresses through the stages of

completion from the reference pictures to the final piece.  This portrait is done on a 19x20 canvas board,

the paint is Liquitex Acrylics. This piece took five weeks to complete and the client was actively involved as each step took place.

 

 
  

 
Base Color
Here we have just the vaguest idea of where the lighting is coming from and the shades of color used.
 
 

Sky Detail
Here I've detailed the sky putting the cloud bust behind the black cat, and adding in layers to the clouds as they come into the foreground.
 
 

Color Mapping: Black Cat
This cat was the easiest and the hardest because there was only one usable pose.
 
 

Color Mapping:

Brown Mackerel Tabby

Now this is just a color map to tell me where to lay markings later.
 
 

Color Map: Calico
Color Mapping is especially important on multi-colored cats like calicos. If I just went all out I might have detailed a cat with the wrong markings and would have to start all over.
 
 

Close up:

Calico Color Map
As you can see there's really no detail, I don't even have her nose colored correctly. However the client thought it very odd that I put in a brown spot I had noticed on her face. Keep in mind these are visual notes for me-not necessarily things that are going to be in the final piece.
 
 

Color Mapping:

Orange Tabby
The hard thing about this cat was that this pose had to be created, none of the reference pictures had this cat in this position. It took me laying in some base color for the clients to be convinced this was going to be the correct cat.
 
 

              

Color Map:

Orange Tabby:

Head
Again here you see there is little fine detail.
 
 

                          

Final detail: Black Cat
There wasn't a whole lot of final detail I could put in on this black cat. It was mostly refining lines and clarifying highlights.
 
 

                        

Final Detail: Brown Mackerel
As you can see there's a huge difference between the map and the final outcome.
 
 

                         

Final Detail: Orange Tabby
Now the stripes are laid in, color matched to reference pictures.
 
 

 

Final Detail: Orange Tabby
The white on the chest is defined, along with the markings that come up along the head and neck.
 
 

Orange Tabby: Detail Head
Small details and highlights in the fur and in the eyes. Eye color is double checked.
 
 

                       

Final Detail: Calico
Fine detail in the fur and face have been put in. The cats character really shines through.
 
 

Fine Detail: Calico
That note about the brown spot?: There is a small tawny spot on this cat's face and the client was in awe of the fact that little things like that are things she took for granted or forgot about until she saw I had put them in.
 
 

Final Detail :Grass
"in the back yard in the garden" was a description used for the where the client wanted to see her cats. However her garden had large plants and shrubs and would have drowned out the cats entirely.
 
 

Fine Detail: Grass/Foreground
Adding in some small flowers brings the background color into the foreground bringing the whole composition together. It also incorporates her thought of the cats "in the garden" without loosing the "heavenly sky" we were going for.
 
 

 

         

Final Piece
In the end we have the clients heavenly sky while being grounded in her own back yard. Three of these cats are still alive and one is memorialized. As time passes we can easily add more cats without having to completely redo the entire painting. A smart layout, with room to grow.
 

 

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Last modified: 06/17/10