Sketching to Painting, continued

June 14 - 

If I take the time, I have found that adding shading and highlighting to my sketches helps me transition to creating the image I want with color.  For example, flat, ALMOST two-dimensional qualities of a dog's ear presented a challenge.  After sketching with just a pencil, I went back into the sketch with a white pastel pencil and a very soft, dark graphite pencil.  It really helped me see the subtle differences in both texture and depth.  

Pencil sketch reworked with white pastel pencil and 6b graphite pencil.  Cropped pencil, chalk, and graphite drawing on tan paper.

I actually did two different color renditions of this image.  I wanted a bright, bold, high contrast image for my first try and used acrylic paint on gessoboard.  Both the highlight and the extra darks I was able to add with the soft graphite pencil helped with the contrast work when moving to paint.  

Acrylic paint on gessoboard.

I think the added bonus to make the image "pop" is the choice of color for the background foundation.  That is part of the image I did not alter in the pencil sketch.  I also tried to enhance the feeling of hair in the painting.  It seems to work the best above the eye and brow where the actual dog has layers of hair that are different colors.  The darker hair is underneath and the lighter, courser hair is on the surface.  That was helpful for my work!