As the holiday season approaches and I start to get requests for portraits, I thought I’d share a little bit about what goes into making a portrait. Partly because I thought it would be an interesting subject, but also as a reminder that if you’re looking for a portrait as a gift, especially if youContinue reading “Creating a Portrait”
Tag Archives: pet portraits
Quick Tip: Overlay
When I’m working on a portrait and I can tell something isn’t quite right, but I’m not sure how to fix it, one of my best strategies is using Photoshop. I’ll scan or take a picture of my art, import it into Photoshop, and then overlay it on top of the original reference photo. ByContinue reading “Quick Tip: Overlay”
Drafting Film
For the last few months I’ve been experimenting with a new type of paper called drafting film. Specifically I’ve been using Dura-Lar Grafix paper, which is a little different from true drafting film (from what I understand), but for simplicity’s sake I’ll just refer to it as drafting film. I wanted to write a postContinue reading “Drafting Film”
Looking Back
One of the really challenging things about being an artist is self-doubt. It plagues us all, and often times that nagging voice that tells us we aren’t good enough is hard to silence. I’ve written posts that touch on this before (Am I Good Enough?, Staying Motivated), but today I wanted to focus on oneContinue reading “Looking Back”
Adlaya’s Art: Origins
Looking through the blog posts I’ve done on this page, I realized I’ve said very little about how I got started with art. So I thought I’d share a little bit of how I’ve developed as an artist, as well as how my business came to be. I’ve always loved to draw, and I haveContinue reading “Adlaya’s Art: Origins”
Coloured Pencil, Pastel, or Ink?
Did you know I offer pet and wildlife portraits in three distinct media? Each option showcases your pet a little differently, so I thought I’d share some details about each one, so you can pick the perfect style for your pet! Coloured Pencil This is my most popular style, and is a great way toContinue reading “Coloured Pencil, Pastel, or Ink?”
Sharp Pencils
A lot of artists I follow online suggest having razor sharp pencils for drawing fur, to get those wonderfully soft thin lines that make fur look realistic. Unfortunately, keeping your pencils super super sharp is a great way to use them up really fast, which adds a lot to your costs. So today I wantedContinue reading “Sharp Pencils”
Preparing to Draw
Today I want to talk about how I get ready to draw a portrait, and my techniques for laying down a basic sketch. I’ll preface by saying that I am quite lazy, and thus don’t put in as much prep work as some artists I’ve seen. Still, what I do works for me, and that’sContinue reading “Preparing to Draw”
The Ugly Stage
Have you ever looked at a drawing you’re working on and decided it’s complete crap? I certainly have, and I guarantee every other artist out there has as well. I’ve heard it referred to as The Ugly Stage, and it’s an apt name. It’s the stage in a drawing or painting where you’ve just laidContinue reading “The Ugly Stage”
A Fear of Drawing With Colour
One of the things I’ve noticed in my own work is that I tend to desaturate my subjects. By that I mean I make my portraits less vibrant and colourful than the references I’m working from. The reason for this is fairly simple: you can always add more colour, but it’s quite difficult to takeContinue reading “A Fear of Drawing With Colour”
Adlaya's Art 