Three Golden Retrievers

This latest commission is of three Golden Retrievers: Georgie on the left, Walton in the middle and Wilson on the right. It is to be undertaken with pastel on size 18 x 24" Canson MiTientes Pastel Paper. The first stage was to sketch the dogs onto the paper, I moved Wilson further in to make a more balanced composition and, once I had a likeness, set about putting white pastel into the main areas of light. Next, I took a dark brown pastel and blocked in the main areas of dark, blending the pastel as I worked into the tooth of the paper but trying not to blur the edges too much. After establishing the darkest and lightest areas, the next stage is colour. I used a warm yellow and terracotta pastels to block in the main areas as I can see them, working from left to right and placing marks in the direction of the fur, which gets pretty curly on Wilson! In the latest stage I put some cool colours into the shadows which has the effect of warming up the golds. I chose green and a blue/grey and smudged it all in. That's the base layer done, now for the details...