On the drawing board - Baxter & Barley

Christmas present. Look at this amazing photo of Baxter! The client persevered with her photography (and my fussiness) and managed to get this great shot! Such a wonderful expression and great lighting. A good clear reference photo makes all the difference and this one is a pleasure to work from.  Whilst I get started on Baxter's portrait, the client is trying for more shots of Barley, as they aren't her dogs she is doing a great job of undercover photography!

Below is the initial sketch of Baxter, more to come once I have completed all the basics. At the moment just getting the main details and fur direction in.

Starting to add more depth of shadow.

                                         

Working on the final detail, just realised I need to do his disk!

                                        

The finished scanned image.

 

Client kindly sent me a photograph of Baxter framed, love her choice of frame.

                                       

Well another wonderful photo, this time of Barley, the client really has got the photography side down now! Love the enquiring look. Below is the initial sketch.

                                                        

Pretty intense few days working on Barley, the reality is that Christmas is looming........ Am working on getting all the basics in place, adding light, shade and structure.

                                    

Continuing to add the basics.

 

Slowly but surely. From an artists point of view, Barley is easier than Baxter because he has some 'white bits', black animals are notoriously difficult and you have to rely on good lighting. Barley's white sections instantly give interest to a drawing and make him unique.

Now at the final detail stage, my favourite part!

A day of analysing and putting the final touches to Barley. Below is a scanned image of the final portrait - is his expression dreaming of running through the fields, or his dinner?

                                                  

Hanging on

                                               

This adorable little monkey I photographed in Baguio in the Philippines. Unfortunately he was being kept as a pet and was on a long chain tied to the post that he is clinging to. At the time, Baguio was hosting a garden show/competition and somebody seemed to think he enhanced the look of their garden - as I expect you can tell, I am totally against keeping wild animals as pets!

In any case, even though this photograph doesn't hold good memories for me, I do love the depth of emotion in his eyes. I always strife to show emotion in my drawings, therefore I wanted to attempt this one. My husband in the background is saying " A frightened monkey, Denise no one will buy it"! However instead of being commercial, it is more important for me to draw what moves me, so a worried monkey it is!

Have now worked for a few hours on the sketch, am working from top left down. I am going to continue trying to get the face part more detailed before moving onto the rest. So far so good, quite liking the look at the moment, still lots of work to do on the eyes though.

                                                    

Have now worked every area to get the basic structure. Now comes for me the best part, putting him on the easel, stepping back and working from a distance. At this stage I refine the light and shade to start to unify the drawing.

                                                            

Here he is, the finished little monkey. I am so sorry I couldn't help him escape the situation he was in.