WIP: Oil Portrait "Pug Daddy"

[rudatartisan]

A dear friend's father passed away last week. She is the founder of the local pug rescue I support and foster for. Money is tight for me right now, but in lieu of donating to the rescue as requested in the obit I'm painting a 16"x20" portrait of her dad and one of her favorite senior dogs; both of whom have now passed.

I'm limited with reference photos; the best I have is one taken by a fellow rescue volunteer that I know she loves. It's horrible as far as color; but the expression and connection between man and dog is great. I'm going to give it a go.

I did the underpainting in acrylic/glaze (my normal procedure since it dries fast. Then I'll switch to oils for blending. Because I'm trying to finish it in less than 3 days, I'll probably not be able to do much glazing.

I'm posting this as a WIP since I'll probably need help! I changed the composition to focus on the faces of the two old men. I work with a brush better than a pencil, so I do my underpainting in lieu of a detailed drawing. I didn't waste a lot of time on anything but the faces so things may change.

C&C, input welcome!

Karen

[mringey]

Nice! I think you've captured the man's loving expression well. I like the style of drawing as well.

[mariposa-art]

I think you're doing great. Keep us updated on the progress! It's a wonderful thing you're doing with this painting.

[kevinwueste]

This looks good.. one thing that comes to mind is - neither of them is looking at the other.. at least the man might look at the dog ? The dog head needs a bit more observation to get the perspective of the eyes to muzzle/nose correct - though I know you are just building the painting!

-Kevin

[kentiessen]

This is a really great pose of them together! It has a nice sense of compassion and tenderness- a wonderful memorial and donation.

His head has gotten a bit narrow, and do watch your light side values as you work into oils- they have become a bit dark- lighter ones will help with form. Here is a side by side of his head (hope you don't mind):

[georgia dell]

I love the wistful look and kind expression on his face. You did a good job putting the 2 of them together. They look content and connected. What a great tribute.

[rudatartisan]

Well, here I am at the end of day 2 (yesterday was only about 4 hrs). I'm working in oils al a prima (since I have no time to do multiple layers of glaze).

I like the face, but I need to add some more color. Hopefully it will dry enough by tomorrow for me not to make mud. The reference might just as well have been black and white for all the information I got from it so I'm just kind of winging it here.

I fought with the shirt for an hour before just doing kind of an impressionistic version; the arm is in a different position in the reference, and without something to look at my fabric folds looked forced. Maybe I'll leave it this way after adding some more darks.

Pug tomorrow, then try to make the whole thing look cohesive. Thanks for the help everyone. I can use more input, now.

Ken, the face width error seen on the underpainting was a function of my photo; I didn't shoot it from straight on, and corrected it in photoshop using distort. I blew up the original to 16x20 on my printer and traced in the main landmarks so I wouldn't be off big time.

[edf]

He has that lost in thought expression. Wonderful gift that will always have meaning to the family. Well done.

[jonc50]

For a little more input, I think the left (his left) eyebrow is dropping a bit more than the referrence photo from the relationship with the bottom of the hat brim.

Jon C.

[rudatartisan]

Well, I thought I was done until I saw this picture. The shirt STILL needs more work. I had to make up folds since the arm is in a different position, and it looks like it. I still can do touch-up in the morning, so if amyone sees something else I need to fix, please chime in!! I'll post the reference again so you don't have to scroll up. Thanks for the help.

[carolkay]

I comend you on how your pulling this together-- I like how you have become the artist of the subject and not just copied your doing very well.

[sketchZ1ol]

hello
nice WIP .
the shirtfolds look okay to me - it's a secondary thing .

double check his left cheek .
the ref pix seems to have just a bit more of a smile ,
but without seeing it , i wouldn't have mentioned .

a very thoughtful gift , sure to be appreciated .

Ed :}

[prashant11]

This is a wonderful portrait and will be a great gift. He has a gentle look to him. Personally, I would focus on the face and not too much on the clothing.