Not content with just my Boomer painting, my sister wanted another painting of her other Husky - Fluffy, which I've painted a few months back before. Fluffy had grown a bit bigger now, thus a newer painting wasn't a bad idea. And so...another Husky painting. Digital painting that is.
This time I screen-recorded my process from the start. First, I sketched roughly in Photoshop,using a photograph of Fluffy as reference. After roughing out quickly the whole thing, I went through it again in another layer to make corrections and clean-ups. I was making sure the constructions were solid, as that would helped me in adding the lights and shadows later on.
Funny how my finished sketch looked like a robo-dog. Can't help it. The construction of the form really helps make the drawing look more dimensional. I just have to make sure that once painted, it must look organic, yet solid. Just like how it should be, and not like a stuffed toy with no bones inside.
Then just like in my previous posts, I started the painting in greyscale, concentrating on the tonal values only. Since I'm still learning, this was easier for me. Later on, as I progress in my learning, I will mix colors directly as I paint. For now, I'm content with this method.
Determining where the light source is, helped in figuring out where the light and shadows would fall. Having a photo reference also helped, and at this point a necessity for me.
Having another window showing the whole canvas or subject is advisable, so as to not to lose sight of the whole and get bogged down with the details too soon.
The process of painting the darks and the lights in repeated order was what I did. Building up slowly the intensity of the values, until the point where colors could then be added or glazed over on another layer. Adding and adjusting the details, size and proportion were also unavoidable as the painting progressed.
The construction and cleaning up work that I did in the initial drawing had paid off at this stage. It helped me not lose sight of the structure underneath, that guided me on how to paint certain forms. Even a little bit of knowledge in animal anatomy surely informed me in understanding what's underneath those furs.
Here's the finished work. I later combined this to my previous painting of Boomer, as seen in the video. My sister wanted them together in one painting. That's the beauty of digital painting and the benefit of layers, which is one of the reason why I opted to paint digitally instead of painting with traditional media.
The time-lapse video recording of my process is only 3 minutes and 46 second long. But the reality of it took me hours, and in more than one sitting. I look forward to the day when I can actually paint as fast as how it appeared in this time-lapse video How I wish I'm really this fast. Perhaps in 20 years?!!
