So a few fays ago I finally managed to complete the final illustration. I will surely have to buy some champagne in Friday and have a little party because of it. Me and Agi Kiss have been working together for a very long time now, it all started with two commissions and then also the huge project of 30 illustrations plus the cover. I’m sure both I and she thought it would never be completed and there were times I just wanted to jump from a bridge (joking), but it has also been a very nice learning experience for me. Originally we wanted to create these illustrations in colored pencils, but very early of our project we decided to go for the digital version, very much because Gabor, the publisher liked the colors in my sketches which were made with Photoshop and because both of them wanted to be able to make changes.

Agi lives in USA but is traveling allot around in Europe so we had the chance to meet in Croatia. That was some time ago, but we managed to stay “friends” the entire project. I just can’t wait to hold the book in my hands once it’s published! Agi sent me this email:

Hi, Katja – it’s lovely… let’s call it done! Congratulations!!! I’ll bet you’d come to think you’d never see the day… Many thanks for everything, including your patience over our many finicky demands. I think you’ve created an extraordinary body of work here….
best regards, Agi

Illustration cover

Illustration cover

Me and Agi Kiss

As I’m almost finished with the portrait of Albin I will now move on to Nicke. At the end I will add the final details and dark colors to both of them. It’s hard to photograph the colored pencil drawings because of the color changes. The blacks are shiny so it looks like they aren’t black enough here. But the photo still shows how far along I am with the portraits.

Step three of horse portraits

For some days I have been catching up with older works which were on hold for a while. I’m soon finished with a new web site for a breeder and the last book illustration, the cover of the book. Sometimes it is like that; it happens that I have to wait a long time before the client sends the material that is required for me to finish a web site. The book cover has been quite a project and we had to do it all over again because the publisher wanted something else.

Well, it doesn’t matter because I have only small details to change and then I can finally open my champagne! Last two days I have been working on the portraits of Albin and Nicke. It is quite time consuming to draw with colored pencils, but the outcome can be really beautiful. I photographed the second step too, because it would take to long to scan it for each step. I will only scan the final step.

The client that commissioned a oil painting of her dog Asta didn’t have time to frame the portrait yet, but did send me some photos of Asta next to the painting. So here she is:

Asta next to the painting

Colored pencil horse portraits

For some time I have been drawing Taisho and the portrait is finally finished. Taisho is a Norwegian elkhound (Jämthund) and he is a beautiful dog. This drawing took ca. 60 hours to complete and it was very intense hours. The drawing is in size A4, so it’s not a big drawing. I drew some areas darker then on the photograph since both me and the client wanted to adjust the very light area between the head and neck on the left side.

I also had to study the fur allot while I was drawing since this dog doesn’t have entirely straight growing fur which would make my work easier. At the end I was drawing the furs from my mind because it would take allot more hours to complete the drawing if I would actually draw the fur exactly from the photograph. That is almost impossible with short haired dogs I think. I only had in mind where the fur is lighter, darker, and longer and on which direction it is growing. So here is Taisho…

Dog portraits in pencil of Norwegian elkhound Taisho

Pencil pet portraits of Norwegian elkhound Taisho