From Progress to Completion

When I left off this morning the basic sculpture was complete, minus a few bits of fur here and there. So I added those in, fired it up, and began laying down a base coat of paint.
This is just a rough color, something close to the actual photo. Later on I'll add a few extra hits of tone here and there. Next came the large black areas. I like to use a glossy acrylic when painting with black. It just looks 'perty'.Now onto the face. I dry brushed in some of the facial markings to give me an idea of where things were going to end up.At this point I usually get a little concerned that it's looking more like a freakish ash tray than a dog, so painting the nose helps calm me down a bit.Okay, so where are we? Oh yeah! Next I start getting serious about the facial detail.When I'm satisfied with the head I move on to adding tonal details to the rest of the body and the VERY LAST thing I do are the eyes...

And now, the FINAL piece. Well, for the moment anyway. I'm not sure if I want to add tooth details yet...and in a couple days I'll see other details I need to add or change. But this is pretty much it. :)



Time wise, this fellow took about 10 hours from start to finish. I was way off on my earlier measurements- my ol' trusty ruler says he's 10" from tail to paw and 5 1/2" from elbow to ear tip. I'd say he weighs maybe 3 pounds. In a couple days I'll add some felt to the bottom and he'll be ready for his new shelf.
Well, thank ya'll for stickin' with me through these posts. I know they're SUPER long, but I hope you enjoyed the work progression.
Tomorrow I'll tell you a bit more about the subject dog. ;)