Your Canines

 Thank you to the three artists who have sent me their Pastel Pencil Canines!

'Monty' by C

This is the first time 'C' has used pastel pencils - at first she says she found it very annoying and different to use, but she has persevered to create this nice drawing of the dog Monty. She has used Canson MiTiens and various pastel pencils with some additions of charcoal.

The head shape is very good - maybe C could have tilted Monty's head back a bit more but she has captured the inquisitive pose well. I like the way the background color of the paper is used to create the darker shadow areas of the curling fur. Maybe a big of French Grey or Sepia or Light Umber could have also been used as a first layer to really get darker shadows like on C's reference. But as a novice to this medium and the first time using it I think C has created a very creditable drawing of Monty.

And well done for persevering with this C, I know it was very new territory for you. And I hope you enjoy trying the medium out on that  Art Spectrum sanded paper. I think you will find it more enjoyable to work with and very forgiving.

Red Fox by K

'K' has drawn for us a Red Fox. K has used pastel pencils before and this is very evident in the beautifully rendered eye of her fox. She handles the pencils confidently and understands how they work. The fur coat is thick and rich with color - it looks soft and furry.

Some aspects of the head structure need to be considered. I couldn't find your image online, but have pulled a comp grab from Dreamstime Stock images to explain. First, the mouth, note how the line of the mouth is not straight line but has a flattened 's' shape? As well, see how that mouth corner lines up with the outer edge of the eye? The shape of the head should be long and narrow. I don't have K's reference, but I think that she has made the top of the head too bulbous and it sticks up too much. And the end of the nose is more of a wedge shape than pointy.

But, not to get too nit-picky, K, your fox is very 'foxy'!

 

WIP Wolf by J

Like K, J has had a bit of experience with pastel pencils.  You can see this by the way she layers her pencil colors, working through the darks and building up to the lights. She is also not afraid to add warm red/violets and cool blues to enhance the grey tones of the wolf. She is still working on it and the right hand side is as yet unfinished. If J keeps working on that side in the same way as the left she will end up with a very good result.

Her nose and eyes are well done. The nose has just the right amount of soft highlights on it to create a leathery texture. The eyes are also nicely rendered.

One thing that concerns me is that I feel that either her nose is too long, or the eyes too close together. Face forward is always a difficult angle to draw a canine and there is nothing J can do about the proportions now. The nose also seems to have a slight bend to the left to it, but that can be fixed once she completes the right hand side and can fill out the whites to fix this. I have cut out a section of your drawing J to show you what it would look like if you had taken out a bit of the nose length.

Again, it is a good drawing and thank you for showing to me.

If anyone else wishes to show me your works, completed or in progress that you have done during this lockdown, send it to me via email - or use the contact form on the right to get in touch with me.