Finished Sleepy Dog Among Other Things

This week I finally finished the notorious Sleepy Dog and incidentally I also embarked upon another subject to be heard about more later on. I've had some extra time this week and I thought I would use it to my advantage since for the next few weeks I will be utterly swamped with other work meaning that I may make slow progress from then onward. Well, I guess there's no change there to the usual. 

Just to start things up below you will see where I was left off last week and whereabouts I will begin explaining this week. 

Here we go. The first thing I conquered was the table top, this time with a fierce attitude of 'I want to be done with this' and so, finally I had some progress made. Not to say I'm too happy with it but to be honest, I was getting a little antsy to start something new. Anyway, to do the table top again I took up a new layer and decreased the opacity of the layer to about half and brought up the opacity of my Airbrush to about 20-30%, which gave me nice sharp lines which would indicate the surface texture of the table. After doing this, I dropped my layer and opened a new one, again decreasing my layer as well as my brush opacity to about 20% and 5% respectively this time and added some depth to the whites and the darker grays to give a little punch and a glare effect. Below you can see the difference of the two table tops. 

I'm not too happy with the tabletop but I just couldn't continue this project anymore and I thought that it would not be the focal point which means that after a while, I won't pay too much attention to it any longer. Hopefully. Anyway, after finishing the last 'major' point in the image, I began working on some details like the coffee pouring out of the pot and some other minor aspects around the dogs face and paws until I felt that the last thing needed on this image was my signature. And so, I present to you my final work...

And la-de-da! A finished work. I feel almost embarrassed showing you the original sketch of this project again... I did not put too much effort in that one, that's for sure. Anyway, all in all I liked this project since it was nice and simple with a little edge to it. I do have to say that I'm particularly happy with the background if not with the table or the dog. I still struggled with the paws for awhile, trying to make them look authentic but now as I look at it, I guess it works just like that with a painterly touch to it. 

Now, that the Sleepy Dog as over with, we can begin on something new and exciting. I've been searching around for the past few days for inspiration and I got caught between two pictures of famous contributors to the music industry: Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix. I'm a huge admirer of both men and I thought I could find some interesting images on both of them - which indeed I did. On the left you can see Bob Dylan on a tractor, which is the image I went with eventually and not because of Dylan; because of the tractor. I got this idea that I will color in the tractor with a greenish-blue color giving it a nostalgic look with a little color splash if you will. 

I started up with re-sizing my image to 2000 x 2500 pixels and my DPI (dots per inch) value to 300 (doubled from the standard), enabling a good resolution. Again, keeping it simple I sketch the outline of the figure to get a rough idea for the blocking in part of the process. 

Here I have blocked in a rough set of values, ready to add some color to the tractor body. I've set my Airbrush to opacity of  32% to get a nice rounded end and size to around 25. By doing this, I can make a rough estimate of my work and fill in the necessary detail for this phase.

 I admit, I didn't get much further than this due to a shortage of time and it was coming to a time that I had to do my weekly update for you guys so that left me to the point that I got some coloring done and a few larger details here and there. 

Here I've just added a bit of color, rust and wear to the body of the tractor. Now, just to let you guys know I am not going to copy the image strait off as you can see with the coloring, just because I don't really enjoy doing that sort of thing. I've just used the image as a reference, I also use other images to get some parts correct like glares or parts of the tractor I'm not too sure about. In the original picture you can't really tell that the tractor would be a rusty old machine and I really wanted to have that effect in this picture, which I've started doing by adding browns and grays onto the greenish-blue color.

At the end, I don't really want the color to pop out like it does now but instead I've visioned it to shine through with a subtle grace between the shades of grey. However, that must be it for now - this week was a exceptionally long post I suppose - tune in next week to see more progress with Bob & the Tractor. 

Sleepy Dog - Almost There

Still working on the Sleepy dog... I know, I know it has been taking me forever like any other project but I do have a eligible reason I assure you! I have been incredibly busy with my school work and other things which happens to be my excuse for this week's slow progress. I am not just slacking off twenty-four seven believe you me!  Anyway, I'll go straight to the point without wasting anyone's time; below is the mind-jogger for ya's of the progress I made last Sunday with the Sleepy Dog project:

I was pretty much left off on the table, which I continued to struggle with pretty much all day today - and still with unsatisfying results. You can imagine my frustration. After struggling for an hour or so, I decided to start over the whole table top idea, which meant getting rid of the little sparks since they don't seem to do it for me this time. As my second  try, I just tried to approach the table again with a simple eye and not focusing too much on the smaller aspects but to get the glares and shades correct which incidentally took me long enough led alone the details. 

After simplifying my table top I went deeper into the detail on the background, coffee pot and the dog itself, adding a fur-like texture to it as I went. I darkened the coffee in the coffee pot with a solid black and added some texture to the wooden boards on the wall with a smaller brush-size (using the Airbrush)

 I can't say I'm too happy with the outcome of the paws, I wanted them to look more rugged instead of a clean, non-realistic look that they occupy now. I guess I will have to tackle them again later on, I cannot focus on one thing too long without good results. What I do have to admit is that I got so frustrated with the table top that I just have to take a break from it for awhile. I have literally tried everything: new layers, textures, brushes you name it I've done it. I just cannot understand why it is so difficult, maybe I'm just out of practice or something along those lines. 

Now that I was getting into the groove in a sense, I managed to pull in the lines on the coffee pot which means good bye blurry lines! I also got to do a bit of work on the hand (pretty much that now you can now actually distinguish it as a human hand) and I added a little detail onto the backrest, particularly in the left corner. I decreased the size of my brush to around 2-3 and added a few creases to the leather pillows to give a signal if you will of wear and tear. I have to say, there is not much left for me to do other than petty detail and I will be finished with this work.. Finally! 

Above you can see the mentioned progress on the pillow, coffee pot and overall compared to the first image, everything is more tightened up and working together as a whole. It may not seem like I have done much but I assure you, it takes the longest to do the finer details. Again, I've been using the Airbrush throughout this project - don't ask me why I just have a keen attachment to it - and it works quite well. It's difficult for me to identify when this project will be finished because I can always see some petty little faults in here that I just can't get over with until I get so unbelievably bored with the project that I have to start something new.

 I am almost there just bear with me for another week! So close but so far.. My last task now is to finish the table top and touch up the paws and I will be D O N E! Next week I hope to start something new, so we have that to look forward to. 

Sleepy Dog - II

Guess who's back.. Back again. 

As you know, last week I began working on a new so-called 'project' with the Sleepy Dog and this week I'm continuing on that topic. It's still not quite finished, a work under progress indeed. Below you can see where I was left off last weekend just as a quick reminder;

It's still fuzzy due to the brush I am using - so don't worry, you don't need glasses - and will continue to be fuzzy throughout this post so just beware, I am not that far along yet. This week I decided to tackle the rest of the wall, begin working on the table top and do a little detail work on the dog itself.  

First of all, I finished the wood panel work and the sign on the wall to the extent that I won't have to return to it until the 'fine detail' stage and you can see below how I have added a yellowish color to the diner sign in order to make it look beat up and old. I also retouched the wear & tear marks on the letters. After doing this, I went on to tackle the coffee pot, which is quite tricky with the glares and the distorted figures and I still haven't finished it for good, I had to remodel the coffee pot a bit since it looked a bit deformed to be a functional coffee pot. I added some color to the hand holding the pot and added detail to the dog's face and fur with a finer brush. 

I still have a lot of work to do around the areas mentioned earlier, but I won't get back to them until I have somewhat finished the table top and worked on the dog's paws - which dare I say are perhaps the most challenging part of this whole project. I have made an effort below to begin on the table but it's still not up to my liking, I really do want that glare that you get on those old fashion table tops in diners. 

Above I have started working the table top by setting my brush to a size around 5 and began dabbing away at the table, giving it a more 'marble' - if you can call it that - type of look, which hasn't worked out too well for me so far. I added a new layer just in case I decide not to commit to the changes I've made and I set the opacity to about half, so I can use darker and lighter colors without altering the bottom layer too much. I do admit that I have been thinking about just leaving it more fuzzy but then again I really do wish to make it look credible so I think I will just have to leave it for next week's post. 

 I've started working on the paw on the left, which turned out to be a challenge as well, I'm finding the shadings particularly difficult and I haven't even began on the right paw but I do believe that it will be easier, since it won't need as much shading as the left one. Those pesky things.. 

Anyway, below you can see where I am left off now and will be continuing from next Sunday..

I've managed to begin on the right paw/leg and I've smoothed the shadows on the table; I haven't gotten too much further from the previous image unfortunately. Now, if there is anything I absolutely hate to draw or paint that just has to be mugs. They are so simple but so complex! I can never get the form correct to make them look realistic which is the worst part of it all. I mean, you'd think they would be a piece of cake to draw right? I think I might be the only one facing this type of problem; for crying out loud who in the world simply cannot paint a mug? However, I will do my very best to try, just for you. 

All in all, I can say that I am almost satisfied with the background and the dog's head, which won't need too much work anymore other than a few final touches and a little tightening up for the lines. You can't see much difference when it comes to where I was left off last week but believe you me, I have put about 4 hours into this, I honestly don't know why it is taking me so long to make such slow progress. The color images tend to throw me off a bit I guess. However, I do want to keep this painting on a more 'painterly' basis instead of a realistic representation which allows me quite a bit of freedom when it comes to the table top and the dog; always a good thing when it comes to my preferences. 

I'm sad to say that this is all for this week, next week I hope to have this project finished and starting on something fresh and maybe slightly more serious. Tune in next Sunday!

The Sleepy Dog

This week I was re-cooperating from the Indian Child project, so I wasn't being very productive during the week until about Friday when it came time for me to do something productive and practice my drawing skills which indeed is when I started thinking about the next project I would tackle head on. I've got to admit, it took me awhile since I didn't really want to continue on the same theme of Indians and such so that I would stay somewhat interesting even though I think the Indian culture is so very fascinating and amazing. However, this time I've been reading up on colleges and information on illustrators and graphic designers and I came across some portfolio requirements on this great school which advised the students to draw animals, not just humans or landscapes. Now, it did also state that they do not appreciate digital paintings as much as they do the regular old fashioned paintings which I do understand but I'm still focusing on mastering the Painter software. So, I went online and searched for 'sleepy dogs' - don't ask me why - and I found a few nice ideas that I thought were good for my purposes. So needless to say, I went head on to sketching something up and began working. 

Alright, so I will just get right to the point. I actually forgot to take some screenshots of vital points in the process but I will do my best to explain them with enough detail that you get the idea. Like always, I begin by taking out a 2B pencil and started sketching a rough outline of shapes and proportions before painting. 

 I was very reckless today, not only did I forget to take screenshots, I also forgot to add a layer for my sketch, so that I could have moved it around if need be. Oh well, fortunately everything worked out well enough. 

Now here are the steps I made and did not document; after finishing my rough outline, I added a new layer on top and began working in black, white and grey before adding color to my image. This is to get the values correct and makes my job more enjoyable and easier to do. I do this grey scale blocking in with a large brush, with the Airbrush again to be exact, and with my opacity set down to 9% by default. After doing this, I flatten the layer and then add a new one. On this new layer, I choose the Paint Bucket Tool and fill it with a solid red color, in this case I used a maroon red variation because I see it in the subject I'm painting. Now I set my layer mode to Soft Light and thus the value painting will show through the red and will look like a 'red wash' over my image. 

Now it's time to get the color palette out and make some action! I created a variation of red, yellow and blue to begin with and I start blocking in the colors in the background and by keeping everything simple and as detail-less as possible. 

After doing this, I begin finessing the background and tightening up the shapes and lines with a smaller brush, still using the Airbrush on opacity of  9%. You still see how fuzzy the whole image, but at the end it (hopefully) come together as I keep reducing the size of my brush to make the needed detail. 

Above I have added some detail to the dog, coffee pot as well as the wooden plank wall in the background. I haven't been able to finish this today, but below you can see where I was left off about two minutes ago:

You can't see much difference except in the background where I have some beginning of a more detailed wall. I do realize the picture is quite corny or cheesy if you will; however the thing that intrigued me was the feeling of the restaurant, I've always wanted to visit one of the run down breakfast/dinner restaurants and I wanted to capture the feeling of it with a light image like this. Besides, sometimes its good to lighten up the mood a bit, am I right? This picture really does remind me of those supposed-to-be funny Donald Duck satires now that I'm really looking at it and not working on it. 

Next week I hope to continue and add more detail to the background and the coffee pot, hopefully I will make it to the dog.. At some point. And well what can I say, I guess that is it for this week - tune in next Sunday to see more progress.