Wordless Wednesday – Drawing Zipper

Zipper was one of those very special dogs that stay in your heart forever. He was the dog that no other dog will ever compare to. As such, my friend asked that I draw Zipper for her fiancé as a gift. Here is a work in progress of Zipper:

My friend only had a few photos of Zipper to draw from. This one is a bit dark, but it was the best I could work from.

First, I do some sketches. Zipper’s face isn’t quite right in this one, but the body looks right.

Since only Zipper’s head needed to be fixed, I redrew the head. The ears are a little bigger, the face isn’t as long, and there are a couple of other subtle differences.

When I felt I had all the shapes right, I did a final sketch and emailed it to my friend for her approval. She said it was perfect, so now for the next step…

I trace my sketch of Zipper onto pastel paper.

I always do the background of my art work first. I generally try to keep the background simple so as not to take away from the drawing of the dog. In this case, I chose green grass because I thought it would be a nice contrast to Zipper’s black and white coat.

The next thing I do is the hardest, and for me, also the most fun. I draw Zipper’s eyes, nose, and mouth. Because this is not just a portrait drawing, these parts are smaller, making it difficult for me to add detail. But it came out pretty good none-the-less.

Next, I add more detail to Zipper’s head. Trying to get the shading just right is difficult since the photo of Zipper is really dark. But knowing the shape of dog heads, I think I got this right.

Almost done! I’ve colored in Zippers body and begin to add shading.

Ta da! I emailed this to my friend and she absolutely loved it. She said it brought tears to her eyes. That, my friends, is one of the reasons I love to draw.

Visit the Wordless Wednesday blog hop below to see more great pics of pups and other pets:

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Tags: blog hop, dogs, drawing, wordless wednesday, zipper