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Work In Progress

The importance of contrast

Posted on by Zara Toms
Happy Easter everyone! I'm working on a Labrador portrait today but I have another YouTube tutorial coming tomorrow :D. I'm going to be adding the voice over to that today.   One thing I wanted to talk about is the importance of contrast. I speak about this in every single one of my tutorials regardless of the medium I work in. This is what makes the difference when we are aiming towards a...
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BUSTER THE BULLDOG!

Posted on by Zara Toms
I currently have the largest pet portrait on my easel I've been asked to do to date! I am LOVING working on such a large scale. It's allowing me to add so much more details and achieve far more realism than I've created before. Due to that I'm going to be planning some larger portraits for upcoming tutorials on Patreon :). Showing the tips and techniques I use to take your artwork to the next leve...
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HUMMINGBIRD ON THE EASEL..

Posted on by Zara Toms
IT'S ALL ABOUT THE COLOURS I was asked by a Patreon member to create a pastel tutorial focusing on iridescent feathers. I immediately wanted to draw either a Hummingbird or Kingfisher and after looking for reference photos settled on this. I have added a completely different background adding even more colour and a bit of a magical feel.  This first update shows the background and I decid...
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MEET RONNIE

Posted on by Zara Toms
'Meet Ronnie' Fresh off the easel last week was Ronnie the German Shepherd. This portrait required a lot of variation in pencil details to capture all the textures within his fur. I had to start with rich base layers to make sure I captured his beautiful warm colouring within his fur. I used PanPastels for his base layers and that worked really well for the colours I was looking to recreate.&...
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First time painting a Dragonfly…

Posted on by Zara Toms
Background is done ✅ This painting is one that a friend of mine has been asking me to complete for maybe a good two years. Having a couple of days free in between commissions I thought I would make a start on it. For this, I knew I wanted to have a bokeh background. A background which I LOVE. I really like how it can create a magical effect and add extra depth and dimension to the painting...
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WATER DOG!

Posted on by Zara Toms
🐾✏️ 💦 Lots of water in this one! 💦✏️🐾 Today I started work tackling the most challenging part about this portrait -the water. Very much looking forward to creating the movement in the water with all of those ripples. Very cute reference photograph to work from. Do you have a dog that loves water just as much?   This portra...
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Tiger is finished!

Posted on by Zara Toms
🐯✏ All those stripes! ✏🐯 I have not wanted to put down my pencils at all for this one. I've loved working on every detail and filling that paper with the cropped subject 😍. Creating that out of focus effect for the body to ensure the main focus is on the detail of the face adds to creating more depth in the piece. I'm taking it to my framers be professi...
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Tiger on my easel!

Posted on by Zara Toms
🐾✏ On my easel ✏🐾 A close up, lots of detail and a striking pose is why I chose the reference photo for this portrait. I did a Gorilla portrait which was cropped tight to fill the paper which creates a really dramatic effect. It can work really well and since I started this portrait I have struggled to put the pencils down. The striped markings are w...
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Jake in progress

Posted on by Zara Toms
I have kindly been given permission to share these work in progress updates. This is another large 16" x 24" portrait so HEAPS of room for detail. Jake is my first Corgi I've had the pleasure of drawing and I'm struggling to put my pencils down! When this guy is finished he will be heading off the the USA. 16" x 24" Pastel Portrait
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