Realistic Registered German Shepherd Dog (Nickel Basin Kennels) Pet Portrait Pastel Painting

I haven't been updating my art blog for a while so figured during this slowed economic/covid pandemic period would be good time to resume.
This German Sepherd portrait was started a while back and took many tedious hours to complete. The multiple layering of fur texture, color and "ticking" was a long process and I had to use over a dozen different hues to create Gala's lucious coat.
Gala is a breeding bitch owned by Nickel Basin Registered Kennels and has recently had a litter of beautiful pups. I love her registered name "Lady Gaga Topolovnicka", which suits her well.

I decided to show the work in progress stages of this painting below the main pose. I hope you enjoy seeing the process. 

You can also follow my work on my FB page at https://www.facebook.com/AnimalArtistryPortraits/
 

Lady Gaga Topolovnicka aka "Gala"

11"x14"

soft pastels on archival suede panel

Private Commission

Progression of the german shepherd dog painting (work in progress):

Yellow Labrador mix pet portrait pastel painting

Sometimes it is not possible to acquire that perfect pet photo reference that is so important in creating a suitable portrait. Most often it is because the pet has passed and finding good photographs can be almost impossible. However, I can generally use several not-so-good poses to come up with a nice composition that the client will be pleased with. Such was the situation when creating the portrait of lovely "Maggie", the beloved family pet of my client's friend.

In this pose, I had to use the head shot of a different image and "magically" transfer it to the body pose of another photo. It is not always easy because one needs to take into consideration angles, lighting, color and of course, proportions.  Maggie was a well fed pooch and so I strived to capture her true (full) silhouette...

This dog is yellow Labrador most likely mixed with German shepherd.  I wonder what breed she got her white feet from?

Pet Portrait of "Maggie"

14"x18"

pastel

 commission

Pet Portrait of German Shepherd Police k-9 dog

Last year I was commissioned to draw this commemorative portrait of a retired police GSD. Sadly, I was told that Marco had passed away peacefully in his sleep. His handler wanted something special to remember his partner so we came up with this wonderful composition using several different reference images.

Rest in peace K-9 Marco and thank you for your service in protecting our communities and making them safer.

You can view more work on my website www.colettetheriault.com and follow me on FB

 

Police K-9 Marco

14"x18"

pencil drawing

Sold

Pet portraits in pencil of dogs

Black and white pencil portraits are usually created using either graphite or charcoal. Sometimes, I use both types of pencils to render a drawing, in order to achieve the deepest of blacks. Since traditional pencil drawings do not involve using any white pencil, the white marks or areas are actually the white of the paper showing through.
These sweet pooches were commissioned as a Christmas gift for my client's spouse. Sadly, Joe has passed but I was fortunate to meet miss Bree when the client received their portraits.

 

 "Joe"

English Setter

pencil drawing

5x7

commission

 

 

"Bree"

German Shepherd

pencil drawing

5x7

commission

Border Collie Portrait in pastel

It seems I forgot to post an update of this finished pet portrait commission; my apologies to my followers!!

This charming and playful dog is actually a border collie/German shepherd cross. As a pup, she was rescued after being hit by a vehicle and suffered a broken leg. When she was well enough to be adopted, she was lucky to have found a very loving home in Minnesota (her new owner drove over 14 hours to get her).

Now that she is all grown up, her owner wanted to portray the boundless energy, charisma and charm of her best friend with this unique portrait. Believe it or not, a total of 5 photos were used to create this composition, which included replacing the head on the body with one from another photo.

 I hope you enjoyed watching this portrait develop as much as I enjoyed creating it.

"Izabel"
Border Collie/German Shepherd Portrait
18" x 14"
pastel

White German Shepherd Portrait in Pastel

Portrait of "Dena"

Medium: pastel

Support: archival suede

Size: 8" x 10"

COMMISSION

read more about this dog portrait here:

www.colettetheriault.com

Step 4-White Shepherd

I completed the ears at this sitting but might go back and darken the shadows slightly. Also on this image, you can see a base layer has been applied to the upped neck and nape area. More to come soon!

Step 3 White Shepherd Portrait

During today's sitting, i was able to complete the dog's muzzle and mouth. I will now progress to the top of the dog's head and ears before continuing to the throat and neck area.

Step 2-White German Shepherd

Well folks, this is the last update as I shut the lights and lay down my pastels for today. Before heading to bed, I managed to add the nose and eye and even started adding the facial fur. In the next step, I will finish the mouth and muzzle before I most likely move on to the ears and top of the head.

Step 1-White Shepherd Portrait

In this sitting I laid down the blurred out background, being careful not to dirty the space where the white shepherd's head occupies. The mottling effect seen on the tan area of the dog's head is the subtle pattern found on the suede board itself.

German Shepherd Dog Portrait

Seems the pencil portrait of the two dogs is almost done! I'm waiting on the client for the placement of the dogs' names (on the bottom left). Perhaps they will decide otherwise as I can't see any other place to add them in.

Tomorrow, I start to work on yet another dog portrait. Stay tuned for what interesting breed is next on the easel.

Dog drawing work in progress

Here's an update on the GSD portrait. I'm always more anxious when working on a larger portrait or one with multiple subjects or poses and am quite relieved when the last bit of the drawing is finished. I still have a ways to go here, but I feel confident once the muzzle and face is done, the rest will be smooth sailing.

Sienna, the German Shepherd Dog

I managed to sit long enough today to complete the first dog in the portrait. Sienna is a pretty girl, don't you all agree? I love drawing shepherds as they are one of my favorite breed.

I should start to work on the next dog tomorrow, I sure hope!

Dog drawing comission of two shepherds

I am becoming quite busy as the Christmas season approaches. Next on the commission queue is a graphite pencil drawing of two German shepherd rescue dogs named Sienna and Kane. The portrait measures 11" x 14".

Pastel portrait of German Shepherd Dog

Here's the finished portrait of Shelby, pastel on suede, 8x10. This one had its own challenges as the client wanted the dog with her mouth closed and most of the photos were not the best to work with. Thank goodness for Photoshop and high resolution scanners!!

I edited the look of my blog with the new template option...will have to think about it some more but I think I like it.

Portrait of German Shepherd Dog wip

Shelby's portrait is slowly coming to life...in this step I continued to add the neck fur while also narrowing the muzzle. I should have this portrait completed by this week's end if all goes as planned! The ears and the rest of the neck fur should be a breeze to do.

Painting of German Shepherd update

A bit of an update on the German shepherd portrait I am currently working on for a client. The original pose had the mouth open so I had to use several other reference photographs to change the mouth.

German Shepherd Dog Painting Commission

This is my newest pet portrait commission of a beautiful female German Shepherd dog. I am using pastels on soft beige suede board. The reference photograph is not that great so I will be using my reference library to help me with important details.