I painted a dog.

Ross_R

Yeah, decided that I should, for the first time ever, to try my hand with colors at something that is not a texture for a video game. And so I traced a photo of a dog:

And then decided to repaint it.
Does it worth a blog post?
Hell I know, but I worked a whole week on it. And when I say worked - I mean worked. For the whole week I did nothing but painted this dog. Woke up, went to tablet, tried my best not to get distracted by anything and painted the dog. The only breaks I allowed myself were food, tea and coffee, during which I watched a bit of Spielberg's Close Encounters Of The Third Kind to entertain myself at least somehow.
By the end of the week my back and my neck started to hurt after being glued to a chair in a pose of shrimp for so long. So I want to upload the result at least somewhere, and I'm not fond of Instagram, so here it goes to SheepishPatio.

If it doesn't load - that's because it is uploaded on CatBox. Let me know, and I'll upload it somewhere else.

0leander

Ross_R Artist shrimp pose is so real.
If your hand/back still hurt heat helps, try heat pad/hot water bottle, bath ect.

edit i just seen that this was posted in sept and there is no way it still hurts whoops

pigtools

0leander

i just seen that this was posted in sept

I wouldn't have noticed if you didn't lmao

Ross_R

I'm not fond of Instagram, so here it goes to SheepishPatio

glad to be one of the lucky few to wittiness this beauty

sonoko

I think you did a very good job. I love this breed of dog, very noble looking. I think the eyes are where your painting shines.

Ross_R

sonoko
Thanks, mate. Fun, but the eyes were the first thing I've done. Though the color was different at first, I changed'em for golden a bit later. And then I actually toned'em down a bit - they were looking like they were glowing or something, way too saturated.
The breed is named Xoloitzcuintle, AKA mexican hairless dog.

Somnolence
Thank you.
Yeah, the hair was the hardest thing here. I tried to paint it by hand, then tried some special brushes, then I took my first try and slapped some effects onto it. Called it a day, but it does indeed look off. Still, I have no idea how to make it look any better. I did spend three tries on it, so that's that for now.
It is though on a separate layer, so mayhaps I'll give it yet another try some time later.

Somnolence

Excellent attention to detail, especially with the skin.
The hair is a bit oddly colored though.

xDamkiller

Good techinal skills but bad refrence. I don't like this dog. it is ugly, and not in edgy way and neather pretty

Ross_R

xDamkiller
Tastes are tastes.
But, frankly, I like that it is the way you percieve it. I used it as a reference for my latest Pathfinder character, and I wanted it to be rather ugly, since it was basically a monster made PC.

Plakis Morakis Plaky

Overall really good, but the hair could use a bit more variation to look better. Also, some of the scattered "stubble" hairs around the eyes/nose are missing.

Ross_R

Plakis Morakis Plaky Overall really good, but the hair could use a bit more variation to look better. Also, some of the scattered "stubble" hairs around the eyes/nose are missing.

Yeah, the hair was way hard to execute for me. I remade it at least twice before finally setting on what you see, hoping it doesn't suck too much. I overall struggle a lot with materials for now, and the worst part is that I'm not sure how to fix that.
And yeah, I got a bit too tired working on it, so I decided to omit the lone hairs around the eyes and nose.
Maybe I'll come back to it and will try to re-do it one day.

0leander edit i just seen that this was posted in sept and there is no way it still hurts whoops

Well, on one hand, that particular one doesn't hurt, thank Gods.
On another hand, some other projects happened since then, so it still hurts, therefore your advice is sound.
Hot bath is everything, I just love laying in water for two-three hours straight with a glass of whiskey or something. I only wish I had more free time to do that more often.

pigtools glad to be one of the lucky few to wittiness this beauty

Thank you
: )

Ross_R

I've thought a lot about posting the following picture, but they are directly related, plus it serves as a nice contrast, so let it be:

I used the portrait above as a basis for my character in the latest Pathfinder campaign, and this is a moment from previous year which got stuck in my head for whatever reason, so I finally decided to draw it, so it will let me be.
The thing is, unlike the dog in the OP which I carefully traced from photo, for this sketch I only used one reference - and that one for the girl in a robe and without tracing. The dogman is completely from head.
Didn't even bother to look at dog paws for some kind of anatomy reference. Just created something... probably completely wrong and horrible, since it was the first time I ever drew digitigrade legs.
Also the second time at all I risked to draw something from head that is supposed to be alive.
Overall 30-35 minutes spent. Which I feel like a lot.

I've thought a lot about posting the following picture, but they are directly related, plus it serves as a nice contrast, so let it be:

Thorius

thats cool

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