Puppy Illustration

[brandyarnold]

Hi guys!
I've been really practicing my illustration skills recently, exercising my drawing muscles, so to speak... and drew a puppy for my sister that I'm really pretty proud of!

Here's a photo of the puppy followed by the illustration... There are a lot of super talented illustrators in the forum, and i'd love your advice for any areas of improvement... maybe it looks too cartooney?

[brandyarnold]

oops, i didn't attach the photo correctly... here it is:

[brandyarnold]

oops, i didn't attach the photo correctly... here it is:

GRRRR!!! Guess my photo won't show up...

[sharie]

Very cute little prembroke corgi, (guessing it is a pembroke, can't see if it has a tail) You know you have done good when one can recognize the breed you have illustrated. Corgis are characters! Sometimes a handfull if you don't know what your doing, they have that strong desire to work!

Your illustration is quite nice. What program are you using? I like how you have shaded under the mouth area and chest. Some shading arounf the ear area and a little more attention to the eye area (just so the eyes don't look "put" in the place. A little shading in the areas "behind"other areas like the hind legs or a part of the hind legs to be a tiny bit shaded. When it comes to shading a simple way to think about it is anything in back of something should be a little shaded, anything in fromnt should be a little lighter in shade. Now there is always exceptions : )

If you didn't intend on more shading or anything then ignore the ramblings and enjoy your very cute little corgi. It is a very cute little guy you have illustrated

sharie

[sevehn]

i personally think its an outstanding illustration ... it is cartooney - but in just the right cartooney way ... i mean ... the illustration fits just as it should be

uhmmm ... all i could think of really is .... uhmmm ... maybe .... perhaps some outline on the outer sides of the pinkish area of the ear? just so, there would be some depth .... =D

but really, other than that ... i think its a great illustration!

did you use a tablet and pen too? =D

[brandyarnold]

Thanks guys! I used Illustrator, the pen tool and free-handed it. Wish I had a tablet, that would make life easier - in fact, I don't even have a mouse, I'm using the trackpad on my PowerBook... it would have gone a lot faster with a mouse even...

Sharie - It is a corgi! Glad you could tell, but I thought it was a welsh corgi? don't know the difference...

I'm going to work on him some more, I think h\is body is ok, but his face could use more realistic qualities.. especially the nose and eyes.

thanks for your feedback! I'll post the new version later!

[sharie]

Hi Brandy, I love all types of animal illustrations. I'm a huge dog fan. I used to raise and show English pointers and Dobermans. We did obediance compitions as well. I used show other peoples dogs as well. I was a 4-H leader for about15 yrs, our project was dogs. we had anywhere from 15-20 members. We did drill team with the dogs in parades as well as the fairs. So I'm a big dog fan : )

There are two type of corgis one is the cardigan welsh corgi and the other is the pembroke

Just looking at your illustration it looks to be a red and white pembroke, most the time the pembroks have a bob tail. The cardigan welsh corgis have tails and are slightly larger than pembrokes and the oldest of the two breeds. The bob tail is contriversal now. Breeders are selecting the natural bobs more than they used to. Some countries do not allow tail docking.

Corgis are wonderful dogs but sometimes can get into trouble because they have such a strong instinct to work. They are natural herders, they herd by driving and nipping and will much of the time drive and nip little kids when out playing in the yard. Cattle people love the way these dogs herd one reason that they are low to the ground so when nipping and driving the cattle they don't get kicked.

I can't wait to see more of your illustrations. I have rambled enough and you most likely knew all this any way but maybe somebody reading has gotten interested in the corgis and research them or even check into corgi rescue

Sharie

[godzine]

i like it the eyes are very pretty
but ou should try work in color layers
to make it look even better

with more volume

[brandyarnold]

ok! Did a little more work on my pup... added some more color/depth to the eyes, gave him a more realistic nose and a bigger smile... better?

Plus, I don't really like to use outlines, and that always bothered me about my first illustration. So, I put him in front of a blue-ish background. I'll work some more on the background later, depending on what I decide to use the drawing for.

Something is still "off" though, but I can't figure out what it is! GRRR. Any ideas?

[brandyarnold]

p.s - Sharie, I looked at some more photos of him, and he's got a big, long, fluffy tail! (maybe he just wasn't docked?) and he's really energetic, so they put him in doggy agility contests often, since he's got no herds to wrangle. Cool!

[sharie]

Oh the illustration is looking great. It looks wonderful.

What might be throwing your eye is where the ears attach to the head, Your eye might be thrown by the small illusion of no depth at head/ear point and maybe depending on how far you want to take tis illustration....The eyes look way better but if you want to go farther with them try shading the top half of the eye and let the light show on the lower half of the eye.

Again I this is looking wondeful keep up the good work.

I bet your right the tail wasn't docked, that is happening more and more. Some are born with natural bob tail most are not. As far as getting him into agility....OUTSTANDING! A great release for a dog that has strong instinct to work. There are herding trials around as well. Those are fun to watch the dogs work. They herd anything from ducks to sheep you name it. I don't think you would see any pigs herding sheep though : )

Sharie