Graphite Dog Portrait of a Weimaraner

The dog portrait is complete! The detail on his face and ears has been added to add texture and depth. The body has been left smooth with less detail to allow it to appear further away from the viewer.

Graphite Dog Portrait of a Weimaraner WIP5

The dark and light tones are starting to even out and the texture has added more depth to the dog's face.

The green on the side is tape, in case you were wondering. If I use a smaller size paper such as this where the portrait fills the entire paper, I use low tack painter's tape on the sides of the paper to act as handles. The oil from a misplaced finger is almost impossible to remove and there is nothing worse than spending hours upon hours on a portrait only to discover a misplaced fingerprint near the end!

Graphite Dog Portrait of a Weimaraner WIP4

Continuing to build up texture by adding and removing graphite to define the facial structure of the dog. A little tedious, kind of like watching paint dry ;) 

Graphite Dog Portrait of a Weimaraner WIP3

I am continuing to add layers of 2B graphite for the dog's face to build up his features. Then will remove and readd portions of fur to give depth and texture to his face. 

Graphite Dog Portrait of a Weimaraner WIP2

More detail has been added to the dog's head and I am starting to build up his ears, nose and facial features. 

Graphite Dog Portrait of a Weimaraner

I have set in the eyes and basic structure of the dogs face and then moved on to his body. I want his body to have the velvety feel that Weinheimer's fur has and his face to show more detailed texture. 

Graphite Dog Portrait of a Weimaraner

This is my outline sketch of a weinheimer that I am doing a portrait of. Again it is much lighter on the paper so I made it darker in scan so it would show up. I love the way he is standing and the look in his eyes. Weinheimer's are one of my favorite breeds of dogs, I hope to have one some day...until then this portrait will have to suffice. 

Newborn Baby Graphite Birth Announcment Card

This is a sample of how the card will be once printed. Many formats can be used for printing but choose to just use a postcard format for this one. 

Newborn Baby Birth Announcment

This little guy's tootsies are done! It is just a loose sketch, not a fully detailed study as it is going to be used for birth announcement cards and I wanted it to be fairly loose. 

Newborn Baby Birth Announcement

Several more layers of 2B graphite have been added and blended. It looks a little harsh right now as the darks and lights are more extreme than they will be once completed. Just working on getting the shapes and then will refine the textures more. 

Newborn Baby Birth Announcement

Got a little carried away before posting an update of this guy's little feet. I really loosely added layers of graphite to build up the skin tone and am now starting to add in the darker darks. The lines on the baby's feet have been drawn in darker so they are not lost and will be defined further once the skin tones have been established.

Newborn Baby Birth Announcement

This sketch of a newborn baby's feet are going to be used for a birth announcment card. I loosely sketched the feet on the arches paper and then darkened the lines so they are more visible once scanned.

Valentine's Day Gift - Graphite Horse Portrait Completed

Well he is complete! He is such a beautiful horse, makes it fun to draw as I love horses. If I could have one in my backyard I would!

They eyelashes and mane did not scan too well, hard to see the transition but gives the general idea.

Valentine's Day Gift - Graphite Horse Portrait - WIP6

The lashes and eye are now complete and just have a bit more work to do on the mane before I can call him 'complete'!

Valentine's Day Gift - Graphite Horse Portrait - WIP5

Several layers of H and 2B graphite have been added and removed for the mane. The eye has also been given more detail including lashes but will require more layers to be complete.

Valentine's Day Gift - Graphite Horse Portrait - WIP4

And more layers of graphite added....

Valentine's Day Gift - Graphite Horse Portrait - WIP3

I have added several more layers of 2B graphite to further model the horse's face and body. The process is pretty much the same as for a person's portrait, just building up the layers of light and dark until I am happy with the resemblance.