Rhodesian Ridgeback: progress, start to finish!

Rather than update with a bunch of smaller posts, I opted to update with one massive post, showing the Rhodesian Ridgeback in all its stages of completion, color study to final piece.

^ Revised color study in my second faux-Moleskine notebook (it's the Pentalic brand; they're great for quick color studies and figuring out color palettes).

^ Rough sketch of the Ridgeback on its final board.

^ Workplace shot, showing (clockwise from left): my color study; Verithins for detail work; my color palette; two Rapidograph technical pens for lineart; and the Ridgeback.

^ Finished lineart for the Ridgeback, using the 00 (.30) Rapidograph.

^ The tree is inked using the 3x0 (.25) Rapidograph.

^ Priming the tree's leaves begins with two hues.

^ Two-hue priming finished.

^ Sky primed with Greyed Lavender.

^ Pulling back to show primed tree leaves, sky, and far and middle background planes.

^ I've detailed some of the leaves on the tree, and have begun priming the foreground plane.

^ Closeup of the tree leaves.

^ Underpart of the leaf mass detailed / shaded.

^ The tree leaves are finished!

^ I finish painting the sky by layering Cloud Blue and Pink Rose over the Greyed Lavender priming layer. These two colors retained the underlying hue better than any other colors I tried.

^ Closeup of the Ridgeback's face against the colored background. I've begun desaturating the far background plane with Greyed Lavender.

^ Obligatory "shiny shot" showing a high sheen after buffing with a cotton ball.

^ Another "shiny shot," this time showing the full artwork thus far.

^ Background entirely finished (minus touch-ups).

^ First coat priming layer: Sand.

^ Second and third coat priming layers: Gold Ochre and Terra Cotta.

^ Closeup of the Ridgeback's face.

^ The Rhodesian Ridgeback is FINISHED!

Like the Great Dane, this was a fun illustration. I don't think it's as strong as the Dane is (all funky color combinations therein), but it was nice to create something fairly realistic while practicing my background skills. (I need need need to take up background work again and get better at it.)

Guidance Dogs: Great Dane final!

^ The rest of the background has been primed.

^ Tinting with a complementary blue.

^ Impressed dots on the nose for texture.

^ Finished nose!

^ With so many layers of color built up, the illustration - after being buffed with a cotton ball - becomes very shiny and semi-reflective.

^ The final Great Dane.

Overall I'm pretty happy with this piece. The background gave me the most trouble; I kept overthinking the use of complements for the underpainting, and thus the middle part is disruptive. BUT, it was a good lesson for myself.

On to the Rhodesian Ridgeback!

Guidance Dogs: Great Dane progress!

I began working on this Dane before the Oaxacan Big Cat, but its progress has been painfully slow.

It's my first contract job, one I was (and am) truly thrilled to be a part of, but my habit of falling prey to discouragement has been strong recently. The project's owner, Kirsten L., did encourage me to share my progress on each dog, so I felt that sharing it - as I did with the Big Cat - will help me get it done.

The colors are a mix of Prismacolor and Derwent Coloursoft colored pencils. The Dane's coat color / pattern is harlequin.

^ Earliest scanned stage of the Great Dane: the dog is lightly inked with a ballpoint pen, and the foreground is colored.

^ More of the ground plane has been primed, and the mountain in the background is primed as well; I used complements to make my hues bolder. (Pardon the vibrancy differences between scans; I should have color-corrected them all at once rather than separately.)

^ Local tones applied to the mountain. I hadn't meant for it to look so green, but my aunt and Camille assured me that it looks fine. Guess I'll stick with it!

^ As with the background, I used complements on the Dane itself to help its markings pop. A bit overboard in hindsight, but the end result will look nice.

^ Spots that were orange become Navy Blue, then black.

^ More Navy Blue spots...

^ ...are now completely black.

I will finish this dog as soon as possible so I can continue working on my next dog, the Rhodesian Ridgeback.