ACRYLICS

DEMONSTRATION
Faithful Friend
By Marion Dutton

Pet portraits are extremely
popular with my students,
and I wanted to take the
opportunity to demonstrate a
pet portrait done entirely in
acrylics. I will be using my
own mix of fluid retarder and
gel retarder, which I mix to
approximately 50/50; this
provides me with a much
more fluid gel giving me
similar consistency to linseed
oil or Liquin when using oils,
and allows me to work wet
into wet for softer blending.
Acrylics are a wonderful
medium but dry very quickly,
I hope to demonstrate that by
using this method you can
still blend similar to an oil
portrait whilst benefitting
from the fast drying times.

I have chosen this beautiful photograph of this old black Labrador; I

particularly love the pose of this dog and the soft and gentle
expression. A good pose is crucial for a great portrait; I have found it is
best to get a friend to help take the photograph of your pet, so that you
can get down to the dogs eye level whilst a friend helps keep the dogs
attention with a treat or toy. I have also chosen this photo because
painting black can be a challenge, but I wanted to demonstrate the
colours that go into a black coat.

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Faithful Friend by Marion Dutton

Materials
Fluid retarder (50.50) gel and fluid mix (see above details)
Burnt umber
Raw sienna
Titanium white
Cadmium yellow
Dioxazine purple
Payne's grey
Cadmium orange
Alizarin crimson
Ultramarine blue
Sap green
Ivory Black
Blending brush
Flat brush
Rake brush
Small detail brush script liner

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Faithful Friend by Marion Dutton

The Initial Sketch

Transfer the drawing onto the canvas. I used an opaque projector to

project the photograph directly onto the canvas, however there are
many options to transfer your drawing. If you are confident with your
drawing skills you can draw free hand directly onto your canvas.
Alternatively you can print an A4 photograph and use tracing paper to
trace this, the traced image can then be enlarged to the size of canvas at
a stationary store.
This image can then be placed onto your canvas with a sheet of carbon
paper underneath simply trace over your lines. Alternately the grid
method can be used.
I always use a fixative over my pencil lines before beginning painting to
prevent my initial sketch from smudging. Note how I have created a
pattern on the dog mapping the highlights and shadow areas to help me
when I begin the under painting.

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Faithful Friend by Marion Dutton

Step 1: Underpainting

I begin by applying my ready-made mixed fluid retarder over the entire

surface of the drawing. Then, using a light wash of burnt umber, I begin
the under painting: the aim of the under painting is to create an entire
portrait in one colour.
I use a q tip to remove areas of
wet paint in the lighter areas,
and darken the shadow areas
by reducing the amount of fluid
retarder mixed with the burnt
umber: with an under painting
you begin with the lighter
shades and gradually work
your way up to the darkest
darks.
Here you can see the finished
under painting in one colour.
Notice how I have removed
areas of paint in the lighter
areas; also, even at this early
stage, I keep all my strokes in
the direction of the hair
growth.
I allow this stage to dry
completely before moving onto
the background. (With acrylics
you can speed the drying time up by using a hairdryer.)

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Faithful Friend by Marion Dutton

Step 2: Blended Background

I want the background to be soft and muted, and to complement the

dogs coloring. Even though the dog is black, he will have a purplish hue
to him; I have therefore chosen to go with a yellow toned background as
yellow is a complement to purple.
I apply fluid retarder to the entire background area and work wet into
wet (you do have to work quickly with acrylics). Using a large flat
brush, I apply a mix of raw sienna and white. Whilst this colour is still
wet I work in brighter areas of cadmium yellow to the upper areas of the
dog; I also bring this colour slightly behind the dog on the right hand
side.
I like to add hints of the dogs colours to the background, so I add small
touches of dioxazine purple to the lower canvas and slightly to the
upper right: I use a soft blending mop to blend these colours together for
a muted effect. Allow this step to dry.
This is the first layer of the background, this step will be repeated to
create a rich muted background. Ensure your background is dry before
proceeding to the first colour layers on the dog.

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Faithful Friend by Marion Dutton

Step 3: Dog First Colour layers

I mix three values mixing quite a large amount as this step is repeated
several times to get a rich colour (ensure you leave each layer to dry
before proceeding to the next).
The colours are mixed as
follows:
Mix Payne's grey, dioxazine
purple a touch of cadmium
yellow and a touch of white, to
get a middle value purple/grey
mix.
Take some middle value and
add more Payne's grey and
purple to get a dark value; take
some middle value and add
more white to get a light value.
Mix a lot of these three base colours as you will repeat this step several
times until you get the overall depth. Note even though this is a black
dog, we are not using black at this stage.
I begin by using the middle
value purple with plenty of
fluid retarder mixed in; I
apply this over the entire
dog avoiding the eyes.
Working quickly and wet
into wet I begin adding the
dark value into the shadow
areas of the dog using a
small flat brush (see above
photo). All of my strokes
are then softened with a
blending brush.

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Faithful Friend by Marion Dutton

Still working wet into wet I

begin adding the lighter value
to the highlighted areas of the
dog again softening as I go
with a blending brush. This
step must be completed
quickly, using plenty of fluid
retarder to enable soft
blending. Allow to fully dry
before repeating this step.
I repeated this step three
times.
a) Apply middle tone over
the entire dog with LOTS of
fluid retarder.
b) Work the dark areas wet
into wet.
c) Work the highlights wet
into wet blend and keep
strokes soft. Follow the
direction of the hair.
Here is the portrait after
the three layers on the coat
and two layers to the
background. Keep
everything soft. Allow to
fully dry before moving to
the next stage.

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Faithful Friend by Marion Dutton

Step 4: Eye & Nose Details

Wet the eyes with fluid retarder
and work wet into wet. Cover the
iris in burnt sienna and add a
secondary highlight of cadmium
orange whilst still wet. Put this in
diagonally opposite to the bright
gleam and gently blend into the
sienna.
Add a smaller brighter highlight of
cadmium yellow and a touch of
white. Softly blend.
Add grey white to the whites of
the eyes using titanium white and
paynes grey whilst this is wet
add touches of alizarin crimson
for a slight pinkish hue.

The pupil is black but must be dry

before beginning the highlights.
Over the dried black pupil drag
ultramarine blue across the top half
of the iris in a half moon shape: this
represents the sky reflecting in the
dogs eye. Finish by adding a bright
dot of pure white for the brightest
gleam.

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Faithful Friend by Marion Dutton

The nose is done similar to the dogs coat using our three values: cover
the nose in the middle value and lots of fluid retarder; working wet into
wet, then add the darkest darks and the lightest lights. Allow to dry.
Once dry tap on some very bright highlights (with the light value and a
touch of white) to represent the texture and wetness of a dogs nose.

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Faithful Friend by Marion Dutton

Step 5: Collar Details

Block in the collar using alizarin crimson, sap green and raw sienna.
Highlight the alizarin part with cadmium red; highlight the raw sienna
and green part with cadmium yellow. Add a white trim and a slight
touch of paynes grey where the white areas go into shadow. Allow to
fully dry.

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Faithful Friend by Marion Dutton

Step 6: Rake Brush Details

Using a rake brush and
the lightest value of
mixture (from the first
step), I begin very lightly
to add small hair details. I
am working on a dried
canvas at this stage, but
thinning the paint with
the fluid retarder gel.
The aim of this stage is to
cover the dog with small
hair details, which will be
later glazed back with a
darker value: it is very
important that all the
strokes follow the
direction of the hair.

Here you can see the

whole dog now has small
hair-like strokes of a light
value: this must now be
dried before beginning the
glazing.

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Faithful Friend by Marion Dutton

Step 7: Glazing & Whiskers

I am working on a dried canvas.

I mix Ivory black with dioxazine
purple and thin this mixture
down to an inky texture (it
needs to be thin enough that
you can still see the small hairs
underneath). Use a flat brush
and the thin dark glaze to
reinforce all the shadow areas,
following the direction of the
hair growth. Allow to dry.

Using a liner brush and a thin mix of the lightest value (mixed from the
first step and then thinned with fluid retarder), add some whiskers to
the dog. This is best done when the canvas is fully dried so any that are
too big can simply be wiped off.

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Faithful Friend by Marion Dutton

The Finished Outcome

Completing a successful pet portrait requires the building-up of many

layers. Dont be afraid to repeat an area over and over to get the
necessary depth and richness. I mostly use a three-step process both in
acrylics and in oils (middle, a highlight and a dark), working and
blending the lights and darks into the base/middle tone. It is only after
several layers do I begin to add details such as the small hairs around
the muzzle and eyes etc. Though I would complete an oil portrait in the
same way, the drying time would be much greater; the joy of acrylics is
that you can work wet into wet, but then dry the area with a hairdryer
and quickly move onto the next stage.

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Faithful Friend by Marion Dutton

About Marion Dutton

Marion is a portrait and pet portrait
artist and paints regularly to
commission. She is also an
Alexander Certified Art Instructor
and now enjoys sharing her passion
for painting with her students.
Marion mostly paints in oils and
acrylics, but often does pencil
portraits too.
See Marions full profile at:
www.ArtTutor.com/artists/Marion-Dutton

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