This is a commission for my cousin, Caroline, of a lovely old dog called Blackie. The portrait is an A4 pastel but as I wasn't sure of the cropping I first drew it on a cream coloured A3 Ingres Pastel Paper so I can cut it down later but I quite like the crop as it finished up. After sketching in the shape, I blocked in the whites and light greys with pastel pencils. Then I took my black Conte pastel and blocked in the darkest shadow areas. Dark animals need a lot of careful blending if their coat is to look shiny not smudgey so a few layers of black were applied and blended with grey and brown mid-tones. I often blend the layers using white, cream and grey pastel pencils especially on the final layers to create fur-like texture. I added a bit of shadow around the paws and stippled in some texture to assimilate sand on a beach and I think Blackie is ready to be framed!
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