Step by step cats eyes in coloured pencils

There are many different ways and colours you can use to create cats eyes with coloured pencils.  I personally use Prismacolor pencils as these are my favourites!  I started creating cats eyes using Anne deMille Flood's book 'Realistic Pet Portraits'.  This is based on her methods but just done in my own way!

1. I started with a full wash of cream created very gently with small circle movements.
2. A wash of canary yellow over the cream leaving the very light parts of the eye as cream.
3. Gently wash chartreuse over the canary yellow.
4. Using mineral orange use gentle strokes to darken parts of the eyeball to give it shape.
5. Create the shadows under the top of the eye ball and parts of the bottom with tuscan red.
6. Continue to model the eyeball using peacock green with very gentle strokes particularly over the    
    tuscan red.
7. Darken the shadows using indigo blue using very gentle strokes.
8. Using small gentle circles use apple green to wash over the eye.
9. Add a small amount of yellowish orange to continue to shape the eyeball.
10. Use black and indigo to work in the pupil and outline pressing harder once the layers have been
    worked up.  Add white and a touch of true blue for the highlight.
11. In the right corner of the left eye and right side of the right eye, use a touch of tuscan red, indigo
      blue and french grey 50%, apple green and white.  Gentle wash of black around the eyes before
      finishing them to get the right tone.
12. Add a few dark lines to the eyes with peacock green, indigo blue and tuscan red.
13. Add finishing touches using previous colours.  Tweak the highlights if they have got lost using an
      electric rubber carefully!

I'm very pleased that I have now completed all three cats!  My step daughter asked how I make the hair look so real.  When I showed her how I worked in layers building them up she commented that it was going to take me rather a long time!  Indeed it is, but I find it very relaxing stroking on the hair.  The top cat Brooklyn was the most challenging with all the different markings to make sure I got right.  My next challenge is to draw the New York skyline then hopefully I'll be on the home straight! 

I am currently working on a very exciting commission of three cats.  I have been asked to produce a picture of three cats with a New York theme.  The lady in question, Lisa, loves New York and has named her three cats Madison, Brooklyn and Franklin.  She is also getting married in New York later in the year and participating in a cycle challenge while there to raise money for charity!  I am very lucky to have the perfect client who has left it entirely up to me how to go about this challenge!  I decided to create a street theme with a billboard of the three cats on with the New York skyline as a background.  There will also be part of a bicycle and some confetti blowing into the picture to make it personal to her.  The cat I have done so far is called Madison and I was lucky enough to previously draw her when she was a kitten.  I loooooove working in coloured pencils and its been nice to have the opportunity to use some colours I don't normally get the chance to!

My new pencil holders!

Check out my new pencil holders! I got the idea from 'how to create a lazy Susan coloured pencil holder' on www.makingamark reviews.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/how-to-create-lazy-Susan-coloured.html


I absolutely love my new pencil holders, I can now easily find the colours I want without having to search through boxes of pencils! While they are pretty straight forward to create, they did take me a little while. It was simply a case of buying a couple of lazy susans (I found some at ikea) and a couple of planks of wood and some glue. I have to admit my sawing skills were not great and my lovely hubby came to the rescue with an electric saw! I did however, drill over 200 holes all by myself!! I never want to have to drill another hole again mind! I also made two free standing bits of wood joined with a hinge to put the colours in I am using there and then.  

Tiger Workshop

I have been so ridiculously busy for the last few weeks that I never got a chance to post about the workshop I went on!  I got to spend two days on a pastel workshop run by Vic Bearcroft, and what a fantastic time I had.  Firstly it was just nice to have two days without having to do other things to draw! I haven't done pastels for probably the past year and I had forgotten how much I enjoy using them.  Going on a workshop is also a fantastic opportunity to meet other artists which I always really enjoy and it's amazing to see how different our pictures all looked even though we had the same subject matter.  Need to start saving my pennies so I can go on another soon!

Half term!!

I'm very excited that it is now half term and I might actually get some time to draw!!  I hope to be able to post some pictures of my progress of what I'm doing as the week goes on.  I'm also very excited that I've booked myself on another Vic Bearcroft workshop in March.  This one is of a tiger using pastels.  I can't wait, two whole days of art with no interruptions or feeling guilty I should be doing something else!

Kingston Art Gallery - a free frame for me!

I have had a good start to February by winning a free frame curtesy of Kingston Art Gallery.  My family and I have had pictures framed there before and they always do a beautiful job.  You can check them out on www.facebook.com/KingstonGallery. My only problem now is what am I going to get framed?! I have been sooooo busy with work (sadly not of the art variety!) that I haven't had time to do much drawing!  Never mind a New Years resolution, think I need to make a February resolution to make more time to draw!  Hopefully I will be able to post some work up soon!