Yesterday they had an event in the park close to the zoo for dog lovers and I saw so many super cute puppies walking by that I could help to be influenced into painting one. I also realized that yesterday would have been a great day to have an example of a pet portrait up on the fence to see if I could get some commissions for pet portraits. I’ve painted my fur children but I’ve never painted others but I need practice.
I was in a great frame of mind today to start painting something I never painted before. A dog, specifically a Corgi. I drew out the composition with general placement of all the important parts of the corgi so I could start with a good drawing foundation. Then I began painting slowly and carefully, starting with the eye and going for detail right from the start.
I love working this way. For some reason it transports me right into the flow state. Even with distractions happening around me constantly I can jump back into the flow state and keep progressing. Headphones help a ton as well.
I realized that this is how I would like to paint all the animals I work on.
I added a progress image below and some very cool images from John Struck who came by and used his GoPro camera with a fish eye lens.
What went well? I was able to enter a flow state and progress wonderfully on the corgi painting
What needs work? Better drawing, more practice of painting dogs.
How can I improve? I’m thinking about moving back to the small 6×6 boards I have to quickly iterate through some dog portraits. The will be small and focus only on the head of the dog but these small painting are quick and provide the fastest way for improving.
