I started with a light underpainting of purple to set off the yellow tones in his coat. He has many colours in his coat, and I want to give it a warm, textured look.

The underpainting helps me map out the dimensions. I've got a copy of the original photo taped to the side of the canvas for reference.

Next, I used black to add in the darker areas of his face.

I began to work in the golden and brown tones next. To make his coat colorful, I used a mixture of Burnt Umber Light, Yellow Ochre and a bit of Dioxazine Purple, darkened or lightened with white and black.

I used my angle shader brush, as well as my rake brush to make the fur texture. Next, Diesel needs a background and some finer details on his face.

Tags: german shepherd, underpainting, fur, eyes