Captain Jack portrait in progress 8 - Making biscuits!

How I chose the colors for Captain Jack’s biscuit. There is no specific “biscuit” color in Prismacolor pencils. 

1

The pencil colors I’m using for the biscuit and my test swatches on the same grey paper as Captain Jack’s portrait. 

There is no one color that matches what I need for the biscuit - the light, mid-tone, and dark areas. So I will have to blend some of these colors. In colored pencils that’s done by layering light layers of color, one over another, not by mixing up a specific color of paint. The colors are “mixed” on the paper. 

That’s one of the things that requires the most amount of practice by beginner Colored Pencil artists. 

2

Ready to start on the biscuit…

Pencils on the left are the ones I’ve been using for Captain Jack. On the right are my biscuit colors and swatches.

My reference photo is on the monitor. It looks far away and small because of the camera angle, but it’s a large monitor so I can see all the details.

3

Starting the biscuit from the left where light is hitting it. The lighting on Captain Jack’s portrait is coming from the left, as you can see from the colors I used on his white muzzle. White, cream, and very pale grey pencil on the left side of his muzzle, beige and cool grey on the right (shadowed) side. 

This little patch of biscuit-color is already a blend of several pencil colors. Beige, pale orange, yellow ochre. And just a touch of mauve to tone it down so it’s not too bright.

4

Continuing to work my way across the biscuit toward the darker end, working it in amongst the small hairs and whiskers on Captain Jack’s upper lip. 

I’ve outlined the right end of the biscuit with black and dark brown to delineate the edge of the biscuit. Captain Jack’s coat behind that end of the biscuit will be solid black. By making an outline “outside” of the edge of the biscuit, I can see how the values of the biscuit colors play against that black. That helps me be more accurate with the colors and values than if I was trying to judge them against the light grey paper. The biscuit will be darker than the paper-color on the shadowed end of the biscuit. But much lighter than the black coat behind it. These relative values can fool an artist’s eye. Putting some black down adjoining the edge of the biscuit helps avoid that. 

5

The biscuit finished. 

Photo taken in the studio....

(Keep scrolling, one more)

6

A scan of the artwork made after I stopped work for the day. 

Scanning the artwork gives a more accurate image than photographing it with a phone. 

I’m pleased with how the biscuit turned out! 

This will give some color to a portrait that is otherwise mostly black and white and shades of grey, except for Captain Jack’s brown eyes. 

❤️  If you missed the story of why mischievous Captain Jack is portrayed holding a biscuit, see my previous post.

🎨 Prismacolor pencil on “Flannel Grey” Canson Mi-Teintes paper, 10 x 12 inches.

Commissioned by Sindy Boyles.