Your most ambitious colored pencil project yet — a full portrait of a single animal of your choosing on toned paper, showing the face and upper body. Choose an animal you genuinely find beautiful or fascinating. The eyes are everything: they are where the viewer makes a connection with the living creature. Get the eyes right, and the rest will follow.
Toned gray or tan paper (9×12"), colored pencil set including a white pencil and one light-toned pencil for under-sketching (cream, light tan, or pale gray — not graphite), pencil sharpener, high-resolution photo reference printed or displayed beside you. Portrait fills most of the 9×12" page.
Find a high-resolution photo reference with the animal's face clearly lit. Free sources: Unsplash, Pixabay, National Geographic galleries. Print it or keep it on a screen directly beside you as you work.
Sketch proportions with a light-colored pencil (not graphite — it smears under colored pencil). Map eye placement, nose/beak, and overall head shape. Animal facial proportions are as species-specific as human ones.
Begin with the eyes. Add the dark pupil, the iris color, the bright catchlight spot (a small circle of white that makes the eye look wet and alive), and the soft reflected light at the lower iris edge.
Work outward from the eyes using your texture study skills — fur strokes following the direction of the real animal's coat, layered from dark to light.
Leave the background as bare toned paper or add only the faintest suggestion of environment. The contrast between detailed subject and plain background keeps all focus on the animal.
Add white highlights last — the gleam on a wet nose, brightest fur tips, the catchlight in the eye. White pencil on toned paper pops more dramatically than any other mark in the drawing.
Allow the full two weeks for this portrait. Work 30–60 minutes at a time, then step away. Fresh eyes catch errors that tired eyes miss, and the portrait will genuinely improve each time you return to it rested.