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Thorane — White Dog on Green Ground
Published: 2010-06-15 12:42:19 +0000 UTC; Views: 923; Favourites: 24; Downloads: 40
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DADADADUM!! (That’s a fanfare, in case anyone was wondering!
) Yes, I have done it at last. My first ever, full colour - not a single stroke of graphite, people - picture!!!!
Well, let me tell you! I thought I was being clever by drawing a white dog on white paper . . . ‘cause obviously most of the paper would be left blank - it’s a white dog after all. Right? Yeah . . . WRONG!
You would not believe how much white there isn’t on white fur. More to the point, it’s REALLY hard colour matching all those very pale colour. So, word to the wise: DON’T draw pale animals on white paper; it don’ work!
On the up side, I learned a lot about colour in a very short, intense time! The scan came up very light so I have burned the image a bit so you can see the colours. Obviously there is more blue than the original photo, but, frankly, no matter how hard I tried, I could match the beiges of the original so I gave up and compromised. This is only a practise, of course, but I’m pretty proud of how it turned out for a first attempt!
I’d love to hear any ideas on techniques to improve this sort of thing. A friend loved this so much that I already have a commission to do her recently deceased pooch so any pointers to make my work better - especially in the near future - would be greatly appreciated.
The original photo is by the talented -
Go check out her work - she has an amazing grasp of colour and framing
Paper: Bristol
Pencils: Faber-Castrell Polychromos
Time: Around 25hour (includes texture and colour experiments related to this work)
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Comments: 10
Wow your drawing is amazing 
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Sorry I took so long to reply! Net has been out for MONTHS!! 
Personally I don't know what paper would be better, I just know light colours don't show up at all well on white. I was kinda considering trying again on black, grey or cream and using conte-crayons or pastal pencils for the whites.
Have you started yet? How is it going?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
That's ok. Sorry for my late reply. I haven't log in here for a while. I did start but it didn't come out quite right. I felt I hadn't quite got the dog's face didn't look quite right and never finished it. I think I will have another go again but I got a few drawings of other animals to draw first for some friends.
I red on a website some where, that said use paper that is a similar colour to the animal. So I wondered as this dog is blonder around his ears, maybe to use paper that is near to that colour like cream or the closest match to his ears.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Hm. That's an interesting idea. I have to admit that I generally find it harder to draw on a similar colour piece of paper. I find that it limits the colours I can use because they all blend into the paper and you have to have a real mastery of light and shadow. 
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