Illustration: Nautilus (2 ans)

 

My puppy is less of a puppy soon, he is almost 2 years old. He was standing on top or and staring at me and I decided to use that pose as a drawing. This is a definite consequence of the ability to draw anywhere, anytime with the iPad Pro. I was able to do my sketch, then take a couple photos to reference for details and finish it in a couple hours. Working digitally has increased my productivity in general but the IPad has  done a lot to put how much I can do to new limits. This is the 5th drawing of the little pest I've done in 2 years so he will be the most artistically represented dog I've ever had. 

Affinity Photo was the app I used, I like to mix it up and it keeps me familiar with the variety of software I use. 

Illustration: Nautilus septembre 21 2021

 

Krita gave me a nice surprise with the final update to version 5 coming out right at Christmas. I haven't been sleeping so I had more time than normal to try it out with a painting of my dog Nautilus. It is a different style than I am used to. My first idea was to block out the shapes and colours then go over them with brush strokes to detail the fur but I started tried some thicker strokes and I sort of liked the effect and went with it. I used black, white and dark blue/grey for the fur and did very little blending. Kind of a bold colour palette.  So one more done before the year ends.

Nautilus @ 8 months

Been working on this on my iPad for a couple weeks. I started and restarted it a couple times and it's OK now, I think. I didn't want to use and shading tricks other than pencil and pen lines. Drawn in Sketchbook Pro. 

Nautilus first haircut at 5 months - illustration

This was not the funnest drawing. the subject kept finding ways to reach my Apple Pencil, no matter where it was and chew on it. this happened 4 times. the third time he seriously damaged the pen and I could use it but barely. the 4th time he just mangled it and I had to switch from the iPad and Procreate to the iMac and Sketchbook pro to finish it. 

The eyes and ears had to be redrawn a couple times to get something I liked and get an expression I thought looked natural. It is detailed but I sued a thicker pen size than normal and didn't use my typical technical pen setting but a more fluid pen nib. 

I thought this would be a nice compagnon piece to the the 4 month, pre-haircut portrait as he looks like a different dog now.