Lesson No.3 - The Eyes Have It!

The eyes of an animal portrait are usually the most important part of the painting - that's why I paint them first.  I had fun with these eyes, using whatever colours I wanted.  Cats have such beautifully varied eyes - some are pastel, whilst some can be incredibly intense.

Paint in the colour first with the highlight, then use the darker hue to go under the lid and around the pupil.  I firstly do the pupil in my dark shadow colour - Ultramarine Blue and Cadmium Red - then go over the darkest darks in black when I am happy with the result (otherwise black can muddy up your colours if you introduce it too early). 

Dots of highlights are added gently (usually reflecting the background colours) then just pure white on top of these.