Animal

In this watercolor and colored pencil piece, Justify crosses the finish line of the Belmont Stakes and becomes the 13th winner of the Triple Crown. This great horse accomplished things that were supposed to be impossible. He won the Triple Crown so soon after American Pharoah ended the 37-year drought, he broke the Curse of Apollo, he became only the 2nd undefeated Triple Crown winner and he captured the hearts of fans around the world.

His brief racing career, lasting only a little more than 100 days, was a like a brilliant flash of lightening. It was a wild ride and a beautiful thing. It struck me with the inspiration to venture back to my true north, back to devoting more of my energy to my artwork.

Thank you, Justify.

I’d also like to wish a special thank you to Eric Dunetz at SouthpawCaptures for use of his photo as a reference.

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Photos of the Process

Sketch made using Adobe Sketch on iPad Pro

Tracing of reference photo to be used as a coloring page by my 5-year old son as I worked

Background study

This was my favorite background study. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to pull of the colors on the illustration board.

Background study

Studies

Watercolor study

Pencil drawing brought into Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop study

Photoshop study

Background in progress

Final background

Watercolor in progress

Watercolor complete, ready for colored pencil

Colored pencil detail work

Final artwork ready to be flattened and sent out for a scan

Toying with ideas for a poster

The iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil that I purchased a year and a half ago has become my go-to sketch book. I try to carry it with me most places that I go so that I can whip up a sketch on the spur of the moment or work on something a little more detailed without having to lug a giant board and a box of colored pencils with me. This drawing of my dog Chuy was created in the Adobe Sketch app.

This year I returned to the tradition of creating holiday card artwork after taking a break since 2012. My cat, Cassie, served as the model this time around. Having a dark, tortoise shell color made it hard to get a good photograph of her in a house lacking in natural light. After chasing her around with that red ribbon all year, I finally got a good photo in mid fall. What came next was a bit of departure from my traditional media for this piece. In the past, I’ve worked with colored pencils on colored paper. This year I worked directly on my iPad Pro using the Apple Pencil and the Adobe Sketch app.

I recently had the opportunity to create a 15″ x 20″ mixed-media portrait of Selkie and Siren, a beautiful pair of whippets. I met them while visiting my good friend Barb Drummond of Home Alone Pets in Phoenix, Arizona. The background and the dogs’ base coat were rendered with watercolor. The detail work was done with colored pencil. The photos below show how the piece progressed from the initial sketch to the finished product.