I looked over Carlos’ photo(s) and selected what I thought was a good composition, cropping the photo to those proportions for reference.

I used a very basic projector to capture Carlos’ proportion; especially his eyes. They are truly the window to your pet’s soul, and if they’re “off,” the whole painting will be off.

I then added shading and adjusted anything that needed tweaking. In Carlos’ case, his back legs looked too small on the canvas, so I made them about 20% larger for visual balance. At this point, I show the drawing to the client for their approval. Carlos’ Mom was happy with the drawing, so I proceeded.

Using washes of a single color; something that contrasts with the pet’s coat, I lay out the basic light and dark tones on the canvas. This helps me doublecheck the composition. The underpainting often peeks out here and there, unifying the finished painting.

I usually put the background in first, then work overall so that one area doesn’t dominate and get out of balance.

I then painted in the texture of Carlos’ fur, the highlights in his eyes and background details to finish it up.