I have wanted to do a blog post sharing how I come up with my layouts for my commissions. I use the same process and software when designing my wildlife layouts. But when choosing background colours for my pastel portraits the below examples give the clients a rough idea of which they prefer.
I recently posted Monty’s finished portrait here and on my social media pages. The background chosen was greys, very light blues to best compliment the subject. There was a lot of these colours in the highlights on his forehead so it tied everything together.
This was the bluer background. What I did for this portrait was use the light blue Pastelmat paper which provided a good base colour. I then added the greys on top. Here is the blog posts of Monty’s finished portrait ‘Monty’.
When designing the layouts I tried over 10 different backgrounds. The other that I was drawn to was the browns and beige colours. This always works well with most subjects being a neutral colour. Either of these would have worked well so I then ultimately the client has the deciding vote and that is the layout I will use.
These layouts are only meant to give a rough idea of indicate the concept and feel for the portrait. There are cases where I will be working on the portrait and feel that although on the screen it looked balanced but when on the easel I may decide to lighten or darken areas etc to enhance the portrait even more. These are more simple background but I can also do scenic and more detailed backgrounds if a client has a specific idea in mind. The recent red Labrador blog post was one of those occasions. This can be taken a step further again and add any level of detail you wish.