Sunday, March 16, 2014

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. 

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