Red and white Border collie

[Musicalclovers]

This is my red/white border collie, Oliver. I'm new to pastels but I believe they've already become my favorite medium!

This was done on 9" x 12" Uart sanded paper. I primarily used faber-castell pastel pencils, unison pastels (the starter set) and just a few Rembrandts.
C&C welcome!

[Yannse]

I like his eyes,so fun.

[water girl]

So funny! Why the guilty look??? Welcome!

[Musicalclovers]

Well that's because he almost always has something to be guilty for haha

[Dea]

He does look a bit guilty
Really good job on the nose and eyes,
Deanna

[Musicalclovers]

Thanks for the nice comments!

[mercbill]

Great painting. You really caught the the face and expression of these dogs.

[John & Zoe]

I think you have captured the dogs expression wonderfully well. I am just wondering about the age of the dog. The body looks like a puppy the head a young adult? If it is an adult maybe the body need to be a bit more in keeping with the head size. Otherwise really well done.

Zoe

[sketchZ1ol]

hello
yep , that's a face .

interesting observation from Zoe .
> if you worked from a ref pix , there could be some lens distortion .

the strong white stripe going back from the nose/muzzle has me at odds because
the fur on the chest has wonderful nuance
and they are lined up with each other on a vertical , so , comparing , but,

that expression of the eyes !

Ed :}

[Musicalclovers]

Originally Posted by John & Zoe

I think you have captured the dogs expression wonderfully well. I am just wondering about the age of the dog. The body looks like a puppy the head a young adult? If it is an adult maybe the body need to be a bit more in keeping with the head size. Otherwise really well done.

Zoe

He's a teenager currently so he is in that odd between time! It would be easy to make the body bigger (don't want to ruin it by over-doing it) so I'm going to follow your advice- I can see what your saying now that it's been pointed out. Thankyou

[Musicalclovers]

Originally Posted by sketchZ1ol

hello
yep , that's a face .

interesting observation from Zoe .
> if you worked from a ref pix , there could be some lens distortion .

the strong white stripe going back from the nose/muzzle has me at odds because
the fur on the chest has wonderful nuance
and they are lined up with each other on a vertical , so , comparing , but,

that expression of the eyes !

Ed :}

I feel the stripe is going at a weird angle myself. And thankyou!

[Musicalclovers]

This is the ref photo, aware it doesn't look identical! I took the collar out because it just looked strange. It made the picture look odd because it's the end of the collar sticking out, and it looked as if his neck was only that wide when I did draw the collar in. That may be why the fur/body doesn't match quite right because I had to make it up there. Interesting you guys caught something was off there! Haha. Suggestions?


After comparing them side by side I see I should make his stripe a little thinner. May help?

[sketchZ1ol]

hello
if you can make a print of the pix to scale ,
put it side-by-side w. the painting .
9" high should be a simple adjust on your screen as well .

there seems to be just a little more grey in the fur in the stripe above the snout .
using that , adjustments can be made for depth , shaping/modeling , and texture .

step back often with those subtle adjustments .

Ed :}