Step 7

I think the shadows need to be deepened on her forehead so I also add some browns and sienna. I've added a bit more to her fur areas for shadows that will also be built up over layers. Her tongue has some blue brown added to deepen the shadow.

Step 6

As you can see, I've added some more of the dark areas. I also like to add some depth to the white areas so I've added some pinks, yellows and blues to her forehead and muzzle. The nose has gotten darker and more defined and I've added more color to her tongue and gums.

Step 5

I get leery of all that brown in the background and wonder if I will ever be able to fill it with grass, so I squeezed out some yellow, black and several greens and blues and go to town. Some people don't realize that a nice lemon yellow and black makes a beautiful set of greens. Mix yellows and blues and you get many many more. I also include some blues and blacks in the grass to indicate shadows behind the grass. It's far from being done, but that brown is not a solid block any more. All of her wrinkles on her forehead and nose are also blown out to white in my reference photo because it was taken in the bright sunshine. So I have to try and create what they really look like. Lots of back and forth on these! Then I realized she had a spot of brown on the top of her head from another photo. Might as well indicate that too! Added some more dark blue pink grays inside her mouth.

Step 4

She's started to loo a bit like a bulldog! Yeah! Next I have some fun, adding the eyes. Here's are a black blur in the photo, so I used several photos of English Bulldogs' eyes for reference. I love to add a lot of color into the eyes to draw the viewer to them. Her eyes ended up with some brown, blue, green, purple, black and white. In various amounts! Also added some green to her nose. Green? Why? It's the opposite of orange (sienna) on the color scale, so it adds a nice contrast when you paint over it with more layers of thinned paint. Also darkened up the tongue. Adding blue to the alizarin crimson makes that peculiar color that dogs' noses have and the tongues also have. Added some purple in there in the mix. I also started to add more dark browns to the shadow areas of her coat.

Step 3, lips, tongue nose pink!

Next steps were to mix up some nice pinks with alizarin crimson, some white and blue. Dragging the gray of the pencil around with a bit of turp, helps to put the lines I drew into a bit of gray that I can use for guides and add to the under layer. I also went in with some more whites over the grays and pinks. The owner wanted me to add a collar and a heart shaped tag that wasn't on the original photo either. Happy to comply! More reference needed.

Oil Painting of an English Bulldog Step 2

The next step is to throw in a nice underlayer. She had lots of tan and brown on her, and the background was to be grass, so I used raw umber and burnt siena. This gets the canvas all colored up so you can continue and not be afraid of a big blank white canvas staring at you. I really enjoy most of the steps. I kept the client updated as I went, so this is usually the hardest one for them to look at. They must cringe and say "I thought she could paint?" But thankfully it is laid down with lots of turpentine so it dries pretty quickly and off you can go.

Step by Step to Paint an English Bulldog

I received a commission to paint a beautiful English Bulldog about 6 weeks ago. I've been really busy ever since. I've been wanting to post some of my steps so I'm doing it now!

It was to be in oil paint so my first step was to collect as much reference material on her as possible, and find other reference on specific parts like bulldog eyes, which were blown out in the photo. You find something to work with in all cases. So I had about 8 photos to work with. I started with a quick pencil sketch on the canvas. It ended up being too far to the right, so I carefully erased and redrew my sketch. This is what I started with.

Pinecone trick

I've attempted to draw pine cones many, many times, and they always looked fuggly.

So while on vacation I decided to draw one again. First I did a blind contour drawing which you see on the left. Picture it without the color. It was pretty strange looking and off to the left. I did the drawings in pen. Blind contour drawing is when you look at what you are drawing, but you do not look AT the drawing. You keep your eyes on the object. That allows your brain and your eyes and your hand a chance to get comfortable with each other!

The second drawing I did while looking back and forth at the pine cone to the paper, and I'm very happy with it. It actually looks like the pinecone I was holding in my hand!

I then went in with a bit of watercolor on both drawings.

 I highly suggest if you're having a problem "seeing" what you're trying to draw, try a few blind contour drawings of it first.