In the Making: "Harris Puppy"

THIS IS HARRIS. 


Some of you may know him as "Harris Puppy" - world renowned sidekick to Stella the Therapy Dog!
This young pup has the eyes of a wise man, don't you think!?

Stella and Harris' mom provided me with fantastic reference photos for both dogs. Harris' photo held my attention far more than most as his stare is so intense. How often can you get your dog to sit and stare at you, point blank, long enough to take a photo!?  

EXACTLY!


I knew this would be a great portrait!

I start every portrait differently, depending on the colors, hues, facial structure, lighting, and texture necessary.  Each subject will require a certain number of layers of color to achieve that super realistic look. 

With Harris, I started by defining all the dark areas of his face.  

I then moved up one step lighter and established all of the dark (but slightly lighter) areas. 

Working my way up from dark to light, I proceeded to define all the mid tones and highlighted areas of his face. While most of Harris' hair appears to be monochromatic, it has undertones of warm and cool browns, so the first layer is where I put those down.  They become softer as the portrait progresses. 

You can also see in the photo below where I began to blend and soften certain areas. 

Notice that I have left his eyes and nose completely blank?

All of the base layer colors give me a sort of map to work from.  It helps me later on in the portrait when I'm more focused on fine details so that I'm not concerned with where exactly that shadow falls on his face, or what direction that tuft of fur moves in. 

Now the fun begins!!

Once all of the base layer colors and tones are established, I start illustrating the fine details. I don't always start with a dog's eyes for a variety of reasons, but Harris' portrait was perfect for doing just that!

You'd be surprised how many different colors are used in a portrait for a dog that is primarily a "brown" or "grey". Harris seemed to be a bit of everything, like a tie-dye dog (according to his mommy). To achieve the illusion of multiple colors, lots and lots of layers of all different colors were used. 

His eyes, on the other hand, are very clearly a brilliant golden yellow even in the photo reference. 

You see in these photos that I began turning those blocks of color into hair strokes around his eyes. 
Again, many many layers of color to establish that look of real hair. 

Onto the cheeks and snout...

Once the eyes were done, I moved kind of sporadically around his face with the hair stroke movements. It's a matter of darkening the shadows and brightening the highlights.

This is the final effect of all those layers.  They give the illusion of depth! :)

And now, finally, I filled in the nose. (Always one of the last things I complete.)

In the final stages, I used stark white and pure black to clarify the really dark shadows and to make the highlights really pop off the paper!

And last but not least, I filled in the neck and chest.  Because this is secondary to the face, I based the amount of detail as well as colors and tones with those in the face. I didn't want his chest to be darker or bolder than his head.

And finally... Harris Puppy is done!