A Golden (Retriever) Opportunity

· by · in coloured pencils, Drawing-a-Day. ·

Drawing-a-Day 23

I haven’t had a dog friend of my own for many years (my cat Mak likes being an only child) but every now and then I encounter one that makes me wistful for my childhood buddies. This fellow was frolicking in Kennedy Lake, out on the west coast of the island, and I snapped a couple of pictures of him. I like to have my own photo reference to work from, and one never knows when one will need to draw a dog, or a horse, or even an ostrich (yes, I’ve taken some pictures of those!).

I had started this sketch, just barely, during a class, and always meant to take some time to finish it up, and today I did. I’m counting it as my drawing for the day, even though it’s cheating a bit since I already had it started, because I’ve also been drawing character studies all day, and they are not in a finished enough state to post.

"Golden Retriever" — coloured pencil. I got the detail of the brush in the background by indenting the paper through a piece of tracing paper with a pencil. The tracing paper protected the working paper from the pencil, and I was able to lightly colour over the indented lines with my coloured pencils, building up layers of mixed colours. I eventually decided the white lines this left were too stark, and went in with very sharp pencils in different colours to tone them down.

“Golden Retriever” — coloured pencil. I got the detail of the tangled brush in the background by indenting the paper through a piece of tracing paper with a pencil. The tracing paper protected the working paper from the pencil, and I was able to lightly colour over the indented lines with my coloured pencils, building up layers of mixed colours. I eventually decided the white lines this left were too stark, and went in with very sharp pencils in different colours to tone them down.

Here’s the photo I worked from:

Isn't he just irresistible?

Isn’t he just irresistible? Look at that tongue!

 

12 responses to “A Golden (Retriever) Opportunity”

    • Thank you! I don’t do dogs very often, but this one was so much fun I may do more. I just had a good long look at your photos — wonderful! You have a great eye for composition, and finding the beauty in the everyday.

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    • Oh Charlotte, I’m so sorry! It’s so hard to let them go, but when it’s time, they tell us and we have to listen. The rainbow bridge will be busy tonight — my bandmate lost the “old-man cat” he was fostering tonight, too. I’m glad you enjoyed my drawing. Hugs.

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  4. aww golden retrievers are amazing dogs I have 3 at home and they are so affectionate and have unique personalities of their own, you really chapped his character and charming little sticking out tongue haha I really love it. You have a real way with pencils and tone 🙂 I could never quite master myself. Look forward to seeing more posts from you karen ! kate x

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    • Thank you, Kate, and thanks for stopping by! I’ll be heading over to your blog tonight to check it out. Yes, that tongue was just a lucky shot in the photo, couldn’t have done it if I’d tried, so it had to go in the drawing!

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    • Thank you! Yep, they’re pretty cool dogs.
      (a few minutes later — just visited your site — aha, GOLDENS! — Love your art, especially the animals and forest scenes)

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