For a while, I’ve decided to do some digital drawings of dogs. This is Fenway and I saw his photo on my friend, Melinda Dalke‘s site. She said ok go ahead and draw him, so here he is. Every dog has a special personality and I thought he was adorable. The way he cocks his head and his eyes are pretty captivating. This is the first completely digital sketch so I’ve learned a lot about which are the best brushes to use. He has a lot of yellow but in real life his colors are much more subtle. I used hand drawn lines to add a little more texture. Here he is on my products.
Here is my sweet and very smart old pup “Trixie”. I rescued her in our early days in California. It was in 1976 in the San Fernando Valley. There were a bunch of unruly boys in the neighborhood playing mean games with her. Putting meat on a rope and hanging it from a tree. They set up a lever/pulley system to amuse themselves. She would grab on to the meat and they would hoist her up the tree and as she locked her jaws, they partied. I stole her and she was our rescue dog for a few years after that. I took her everywhere with me: shopping and to work too. She was my little guard dog when I worked in Culver City. When I had my first son, she was wonderful with the baby.
We had another dog at the time that the veterinarian suggested we find a home for. I remember him saying that in some situations, dogs cant accept the new baby. The new baby was more than the Labrador could handle. So I gave the lab away because they were fighting. It was dangerous but I took care of it right away. When we moved to the country, it was great for a while but she disappeared one night. She showed up a few days later; hungry, tired, very dirty. I tried everything to keep her but she kept going out into the hills and then she just disappeared. A few weeks after she left, one morning I took my binoculars and aimed towards the distant rolling hills. I saw her. She had taken up with 3 wild dogs and they were hunting together. My heart was broken. I loved her so and knew now she would never come back. I think of her still. I think of her a lot. I miss you sweet Trixie. You could not help being the dog you were. There was nothing I could do. Here is the digital drawing of her.
Some dogs of course just touch your heart. I’ve been tablet drawing and have an idea of what I want but still have a ways to go. To me the most important thing is to try to capture the personality of the dog. Digital sketching gets a little bizarre with animal fur brushes. Tablet drawing works great if you have a plan. A good plan is to keep it as simple as possible and everything to a minimum. I think I’m looking for something in between a traditional portrait with the flare of digital. Then if I could master lighting, that’s where I want to be.
I’m not at all happy with the below image. I will do it over but I just take a black and white shot to get an idea of the values. As you can see, there are more problems than values. It’s a mixed up mess with wrong brushes used for what I’m looking for. There are blacks in here that are way too dark and the piece has no continuity. His beautiful eyes are lost. The next version will begin with line art and then use selections for 4 values in grey scale to use as my flats. Onward and don’t give up.
This little guy is a welsh corgi. Of course he is. Once upon a time a little girl wanted him strictly because she thought he was one of cute Mexican dogs they call a chiwawa.
He made a little ruffled bark and told her, “No, I am not a chiwawa dog.” She took him
home anyway. They lived happily ever after.
I have combined my love of fonts; this one is Dino Kids, with pencil sketching and digital ribbon and bow, drawn on my Cintique by Wacom. enjoy. purchase
Painting Mexico 
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