Honey I'm baaaaaaack!;-)

Hello there! It has been a while, sorry about that! Life kind of caught up with me and once the new semester started it was a head down and nose to the grindstone kind of deal. The commissions took on a steady flow during that time, for which I was very thankful. A few I can't divulge yet as they are Christmas presents, but in time their presence and the evolution of their portraits will grace these parts.

Today I'd like to introduce you to Lime, a much loved elderly Schnauzer on mainland Japan. I started out by roughly sketching out the shape of the head, making sure the eyes were in the right place and that the nose wasn't too far down. I have learned quite a bit about the camera angles here. If I take the picture from slightly above the muzzle looks quite a bit longer and if I take the shot looking slightly up at the subject invariably the nose becomes a little more snubbed. You guys are smart you probably already know this. I was just fascinated at how small an adjustment could impact the picture in such a big way.

Before

Any way, I reverted to my usual oreo approach of getting the eyes and nose up to a high standard right off the bat. I say a high standard and not perfect because they undergo sooooooooo many changes throughout the drawing process.What may look quite decent to start off with actually might not look the best when everything else is in place. Take a look at these pictures of this Miniature Pinscher. Ignore the rest of the head and other features, look at the eyes and nose.Not too bad if I may say so myself hehehehe yup, I just said it ;-) but then look at the finished version and the differences that occurred between then and now.

After

ok, got a bit carried away there, and that little minx hogged Lime's moment of glory for a second. Back to Lime. I delivered the portrait on Saturday to a very excited niece. I hope her uncle is as happy with the picture as I was by the end of drawing it. From all the photos I received to draw the portrait, it was easy to see how loved and adored Lime was. It really warmed my heart. 

Lime