Jessica Crabtree

(Click for larger view)

My latest pastel is about halfway finished. Next I’ll be working on the armbands and hands, and finishing his leather vest. After that, some detail work and a few finishing touches and I’ll consider it done.

A quick trick I learned for imitating metallic objects, like the silver-studded border on his vest:
use a plain white colored pencil.

Colored pencils are terrible on suede, but they come in very handy for this one purpose. I use them wherever I need to indicate points of light or very small areas of brilliant white. It’s so much easier than trying to achieve this with chalks. The best part is that the combination of textures works very well – the pencil won’t smear on the suede, so I can cover it with chalk and it still shows up well. Besides, I like the effect.

More to come…

Here’s the first look at my newest portrait, Shoshone, 14×24 pastel on suede. Click to enlarge.

My reference photo is an old black and white of a young Shoshone scout, taken in the 1870′s. More on that later…

Top Chalks for Portraits

Over time I’ve worked out my favorite combination of chalks to use for portraits (see examples below) in order to achieve a rich skin tone with some highlighting and dark, dramatic shadows. Here’s my list of must-have chalks:

Black
I always apply black first. It helps outline the portrait and gives a boundary to work with, and still shows up even after several layers of blending. I use my Prismacolor Nupastel black for this (I always keep two boxes just of this black on hand, since I go through them so fast) because they are semi-hard and you get a firm clean edge, good for outlining. But you can use really any texture of black for the under coat.

Sennelier #004 Red Ochre (“Black Brown”)
I use this as a wash over the entire flesh area. You don’t see this in the final product, but it serves two important purposes – 1) it keeps the matboard from showing through (especially important if you use dark suede) and 2) it acts as a base coat when blending the chalks, to keep the tone from looking washed-out. I’m told this typical of the oil painting process – which I wouldn’t know, not being an authority on oils, but it makes complete sense for any medium that uses heavy layering. The bright red wash looks bizarre in the beginning, but it’s well worth it.

Art Spectrum V552 (“Burnt Umber”)
This is the other under-layer or chalk. I apply this very light color wherever I want to show areas of strong highlight or reflection. If you are layering your chalks, DO NOT PUT THE HIGHLIGHT COLOR ON TOP; using white or light-colored pastel over the skin tone to add brightness only makes it look dull and pasty. Apply it as an undercoat and blend the flesh tone over it. This way it shows up very smooth and gives a nice subtle glow, rather than looking chalky. The stronger or brighter you want the light, the thicker you apply the umber, so it doesn’t blend away when you apply flesh tone.

Sennelier #3712 (“Gamboge”)
This is my second choice for highlighting, but I use it sparingly because Sennelier’s soft pastels are so thick and clay-like. Too much and you risk filling up the suede pile and not being able to layer. I use it only where I need some very dense highlighting.

Sennelier #89 (“Venetian Red”)
This is a lush, luminous orange color I use as a mid-tone in conjunction with highlighting to keep the flesh from looking washed-out. It’s rich texture and vibrancy make it incredibly pleasant to work with – but a little goes a very long way, so I never apply it directly. Just smudge a little on your finger and brush it on the suede.

Nupastel #353-P (“Cordovan”)
This is one of my favorite colors for dark flesh tone. It is semi-hard but extremely smooth so I can blend over several layers of chalk with it. A good coat of this really starts to bring the face to life. It is especially useful for shadows where you don’t want the black chalk to make the skin lose its color (skin under a shadow looks redder, not grayer).

Nupastel #273-P (“Tuscan Red”)
A second shade of flesh tone that’s little lighter, a bit closer to pink. I layer this over much of the face and use it to transition between the darker areas and the bright highlights. Because these chalks don’t go on very thick, the pigments are not as intense as they appear in color swatches, making them much more flexible. They can be as solid or as subtle as you want, so at this stage I start working with the texture in much more detail.

Of course you’ll need a few other colors to finish your portrait, but these are a pretty good starting combination. My Sneak Peek: In Progress category shows portraits in various stages of completion, so you can get a good idea of the process.

Both of these finished portraits, Lummi (16×20) and Crow (24×30) were made with the same assortment of pastels (click to see full-size images.)

See more like these on my Gallery page.

I’ve started a new portrait, Acoma, on 18″ x 24″ black suede board, from an Edward Curtis photo of a Pueblo man. Below is the same portrait one day earlier. It’s still in the first stages (face first, then hair, clothing/accessories, and final touch-ups), but I’ll be updating with photos as I go along.

Check out my Latest page to see them all step-by-step.

Meet Bandit, 15×18 pastel on suede – the latest addition to my Gallery.

(Click to enlarge)

My reference photo was from the Fish and Wildlife Service database (which are all public domain). I used mostly Nupastel chalks for the fur and birch trees, and a white pencil for the accent hairs, whiskers, and other fine details. You can click one of the tags below to see the step-by-step photos of this project.

See more of my wildlife portraits and pastel paintings here.

(Click the picture for full-sized view)
Bandit, 15×18 pastel on suede. A little closer to being finished (still needs some work though).

Portrait Sizes

If you’re working in pastels, the size of your matboard canvas is especially important. Too small, and you won’t be able to achieve as much detail in your painting; too big and you have a huge amount of area to cover and often some wasted canvas space. 16×20 is my favorite size to work with. It’s just right for a life-sized head and shoulders view. For a portrait I don’t use anything smaller than 12×16, which is best for smaller, close-up facial portraits.

Comanche Boy, 12×16

24×30 or 24×36 on the large end is perfect for a bust or three-quarter length portrait, and it can accommodate plenty of detail without being completely unmanageable (at this size they can be awkward to transport before they’re framed!)

Blackfoot, 24×30

Almost any canvas – including very small or odd-sized pieces – will suit wildlife paintings, since animals come in so many shapes and sizes. If I have a project that requires a special size, so that when I cut my matboard the result is several odd-shaped scrap pieces, I can always use them for my animal portraits.

Here’s a look at my latest pastel in progress (15×18). I call him “Bandit” – an obvious name for a raccoon! Click the image to enlarge: