IGOR LUKOVIC shows you how he drew this adorable Staffordshire terrier in coloured pencil. Read through to see the precise and detailed results
I AM A SELF-TAUGHT, coloured pencil artist – originally from Serbia, now based in Birmingham for the past 17 years – who is passionate about creating realistic hand-drawn portraits that owners can cherish for life. As a proud dad of two retired, loving and very gentle Greyhounds, I know how important our four-legged friends are to us. I want to help pet lovers all over the world, by immortalising their pet in a unique, one-of-a-kind portrait, that will last a lifetime. I love capturing their character, heart and soul, which instantly connects and speaks to their owner – as well as using the highest grade of art materials. That is my biggest priority.
igorsfineartstudio.com
1 START BY MAKING A SKETCH OF THE SUBJECT
I always use a reference photo. I make sure the proportions are 100% correct, and in my opinion, this is where every artist should spend most of his time. Speaking from my own experience, it doesn’t matter how good your technique is; when it comes to shading and texture drawing, if your proportions are not correct, then the portrait won’t look right. Using light pressure, I outline the dark areas around the eyes, then lightly fill in the pupils (in this case using Dark Indigo and Black), leaving the highlights free of pigment. Slowly, I start working around the pupils in the rest of the eye area (using Cream, Van Dyke Brown, Warm Grey 2 and Copper) using light pressure, making sure I start with the lightest colour, and working up to the darkest. Once I am happy with the shades and the colour of the eyes, I increase the pressure and make sure the darks are dark enough, and the lights are light enough. The last step is using the blending pencil to adjust the pigment in the eyes, to get that glossy look, and if I need to, I darken up the darkest areas of the eyes. ▸
2 START MOVING ONTO THE AREA AROUND THE EYE
Once I’m happy with the eyes, I start moving around it, following the direction of the fur and paying attention to the length of the fur. Remember: short-haired animals need shorter strokes.
3 NOW FOR THE FUR WITH DARKEST SHADES FIRST, ESPECIALLY ON A TRICOLOUR ANIMAL
This is something I would strongly suggest, as this will massively help you out finding where you are in certain areas. But even in this step, I would suggest using light pressure, and consider it as just laying the main landmarks, which you can easily darken up later on as you progress through the drawing. I start working on the ear, as I colour in the dar
