Kid aceo

Three years ago we went to visit some friends in Pennsylvania. His brother has a farm, and this cute little goat was there. I've been wanting to do a painting of him for the longest time now, and finally came across this missing picture. (I had stuck it in the pages of a traveling drawing pad.)This is a baby goat, tiny as can be, about the size of a small dog. Boy could he jump around.

I decided to do an aceo of him yesturday. I sketched him out and started putting in the shadows with colored pencil, using Indigo Blue. I use Prismacolor and Derwent brands. Some are regular colored pencil, and some are watercolor pencil used like colored pencil.

Then I thought, hey, why not take pictures of it as it progresses so I can show you my process. Even though this is only 2.5 x 3.5 inches, it took me 5 hours to complete. Yes, 5 hours. That's because I did a ton of layers to get the color built up the way I wanted it. This is my second painting/drawing, Using this method. (I don't know, what do you call it, painting or drawing?)

Keeping the layers light and kinda spotchy, I added the first layer of cool gray, sienna brown and burnt sienna. I also used a bit of Dark Brown around his nose and top of head and tip of ear.

Here I put down another layer using the same colors, including Terra Cotta and I do believe peach for his back ear. Still keeping it light. Added some of the Dark Brown on the shadows and dark areas of the goat.

My first instinct is to put the color in good and dark, filling up the paper, but then you lose control and don't get the same effect, at all.

Then I took white and went over most of it like in his back half. I also discovered a colorless blender from an artist friend, and it works great. You can blend the colors together without changing the colors. It is just a Prismacolor pencil, the pencil has no pigment.

Then I started putting in more darks (like the first half of his body.) I almost forgot to take the picture between these two stages.

Most of the time I use the Colorless Blender pencil to blend the layers together before I add the next layer, but not always. I added more darks and put in some black. I haven't done his eye yet at this point, except for an outline in Dark Brown, so it looks a bit freaky.

Usually the eye is one of the first things I do, but not in this one.

Here goes another layer of white, gray and colorless blender on the darker areas. Highlighted his ears, tip of tail and lighter part of tail especially. On each layer I go over the whole goat with some color or another.

I set in more browns, blacks, Sienna Brown and Blue Gray. So he keeps getting darker, then lighter, and back and forth. I also started on the eye.

Added a touch of green to his eye. Used the colorless blender in the darker areas, white in the lightest areas, and added more of that orangy color (Burnt Sienna). Besides a little bit of shadow, I haven't touched the background.
Here I put in some green between his back legs so I wouldn't loose that little area. More blending, more browns, burnt sienna, grays. Sometimes I use more black, Dark brown, or even a bit of Blue gray on the dark areas of his legs, tush, tail,
Brought in more Burnt Sienna.
Soon he will be for sale at my Etsy shop.

Toned down the Burnt Sienna and brought in more grays.

Added more darks in his fur.

Here's a shot of it after I started the background. It looks more washed out than the last shot because of the angle that I took the picture.

Here is the final piece. It looks very rich in color in person.