Blog for Shirley Lawrence Bellows

This was a portrait that I did a few years ago of a Wire Haired Miniature Dachshund named Annabelle. One challenge was that the photo was taken with a flash so her eyes were just white blanks. Also, her coat colour was completely washed out so that was one reason why I went with a graphite drawing instead of a colour one.

Here is the start of it:

I wanted to show that she was on a floor so I put some shadows under her legs and tail.

Here is the next stage:

Getting the wiry coat to look that way was also a challenge.

Most animal coats that I paint are glossy and soft.

I didn't want the background behind her upper body to be a stark white so I just used tissues and smudged them

with graphite dust and then moved them around.

Now I started doing more definition on the darker hairs especially on her ears, face and muzzle.

That nose had to be made nice and wet and shiny!

Here is the final version:

You can see that there has been more definition added on hairs throughout her body. Her tag on her collar

has been finished as well. It was challengin to do as well. I hope you enjoyed this demonstration.

See a larger image of Annabelle in the Graphite section of my Portfolio.