Trixie

[elgordineo]

Hi Iam looking for a bit of help off you good people here with this drawing iam doing for my mother.Its of her late cat Trixie who she had to have put to sleep last year after 16 years with her,so i would like to get it as good as i can for her birthday .
Iam thinking of maybe toning down the eyes a touch as they are looking a bit too green at the moment,would adding a touch of purple to the eyes do this,or a would you use a different shade of green. And would you add colour behind the cat to make it stand out and if so what colours do you think would be best for a background,if any. Your help would be grately appreciated.

Thanks

Lee

[salemskye]

I think the eyes are perfect actually maybe add a little pale yellow, but I think they are great. You are off to a great start, it's beautiful.

[faula]

a purple would tone down the eyes, but then they might not be as light as they are in your drawing and the light really works well. and the purple might make the greens really muddy :/ would try first on a smaller swatch to see what happens
you could use a different shade of green to shade the eyes more, make them a little more 3D.
its harder to add the background colours after you have drawn the main subject, try to include some of the colours you have used in the cat so the background doesn't clash too much. Once you have the cat done, then decide what you want the main background colours to be, and put a few of the cat's colours in there. different greens I think would work well, go really well with the eyes

[moolane]

Personally, I think that the eyes are perfect and I wouldn't change a thing. However, if you are uncomfortable with the intense green, then I would suggest toning it down with a little bit of yellow - perhaps cream - just on the outside. Cat eyes don't photograph very well. The depth of color just doesn't get captured like you can do in a painting.

This is spectacular. Your mom is going to cry with joy!!

[moolane]

As for the background: I think it is fine as is. However, I've read that some paper changes color over time and that is why artists cover the entire surface. If you were to do a colored background, I would choose a light bluish-grey like you used in the cat.

[RobinZ]

Really good start! I personally would wait til you are all done and then evaluate it again.

Not sure I'd bother with a background unless you have something in mind besides a plain color. I like the gray.

[Jazz]

I Too think the eyes are lovely but you know better than us if they reflect Trixies true eye colour?

You have a great start with the fur but before you go much further I think you need to take another look at the right-hand( the viewers right) ear and its placement -I think you have dropped it a little too low -its not leaving much room for the details in her fur between the top of her eye and her ear -does that make sense?

Apart from that you are doing extremely well and your mum will adore it


Ali

[elgordineo]

Thanks alot for you help on this one, i think il crack on with her fur for now and leave the eye,s the way they are and see how i feel towards the end of the drawing,il keep you up-dated of how i get on..thanks again.

Lee

[elgordineo]

Just a quick up-date of todays work on this drawing.

[FromtheDeep]

Aw, I think that is an excellent portrait so far. I LOVE the eyes the way they are but I agree that if you wanted to change it up maybe add a bit of the pale yellow, but I vote for them to stay the same. They are very intense!. I love the detail of the stripes and the whiskers...and the cute little pink nose! Sorry, I'm a bit nuts for cats...

[Jazz]

That is looking fantastic!!! Keep going the way you are and you will have a fabulous cat portrait, but be aware don't rush it and ruin it now. Thanks for the update.

Ali

[elgordineo]

Well i think i have finished with this one, turned out quite a challenge with all that white in the drawing. I made a few mistakes on this but iam quite happy with the way it turned out as i usually work with graphite. Hope my mother likes it.



Your thoughts on this drawing would be appreciated.

[Lexycat]

I think you've done so well with this, tabbies are really hard to do IMO. The eyes and the face are great The only thing I would say is re the hard lines drawn around the white fur at the bottom of the chest area, you probably cant change this now, but in future I would just feather the white fur out and put some subtle shadow colours underneath it - what you could do is soften those lines by doing just that - bring the colour out a bit and leave soft edges - does that make sense?

[elgordineo]

thanks for your comments Lexy, i see what you mean about the hard black lines at the bottom of the drawing,it was just an experimental thing really,like i say iam still very new to coloured pencil.Thanks again and il keep that in mind for next time.

[jane alison]

I think it's great! Your Mom is really going to love it.