Stick Dog: 1

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When it comes to adding fur to your dog sketch, everyone will sketch it differently. To me, this is an exercise in mark making. I write extensively about the practice of mark making here. (I love mark making and advocate that everyone should have a small sketchbook to hand to practice making marks.) And, that’s exactly what makes it so great when used as a tug toy. The extra length allowed me to keep my hands well away from my German Shepherd’s powerful jaws. I’m a big advocate that with anything you start to draw you capture the entire shape of the image on paper first before starting in on the details. So often when we start to draw we get going with the head at the risk of not understanding how the entire body fits together.

You will probably not need the tracing paper to do this. If you are drawing an image of an entire dog the face may not necessarily need to convey that much detail, but you’d be surprised how different dog faces are! Several years ago, when his kids were younger, Tom wrote and illustrated several rhyming picture books for them. His wife – who is much smarter than Tom – suggested he share these stories with kids for free. And he did. And they’re still free. You can find them at Apple's iBooks store and at other electronic book outlets. I have a vague memory that I liked that the kid says his drawings are really bad but HE STILL DOES THEM! Still uses them to make a story. I wouldn't be such a big fan of the negative self-judgement of his work, but I love that it doesn't stop him. It all started when I left it on the countertop and forgot about it. My husband came home and started up an awkward conversation about how I should be more careful about that “thing” in the kitchen, in case the kids saw it. I’ll tell you right now that I was so confused until I finally realized what he was talking about.Another point to note is that your lines now need to be more shaped as opposed to straight. Still try and keep this minimal and gesture at shape as opposed to too much detail. Start by shading an area you want to work on with a light shade. This outlines the shape of the fur shape you are delineating, for example the tail. Shade in the direction of the fur flow. Shade darker on the edges and add any straggling hairs around the new shape in the direction of the fur flow.

When a new power plant pollutes a nearby lake, there are strange and unusual consequences. The friendly fish begin to mutate - and then seek revenge against the power plant. Even though this story has ‘vampire’ in the title, it’s not scary. When my German Shepherd bites, he clamps down hard. He plays tug-of-war like it is the only job he was put on Earth to do. Obviously, he wins more often than I do. I was impressed that after weeks of rough play there were no visible punctures on the toy. Salvador Dali amusingly was known to have said that “if you refuse to study anatomy, the arts of drawing and perspective, the mathematics of aesthetics, and the science of colour, let me tell you that this is more a sign of laziness than of genius…”There are over 450 recognised breed of dogs across the globe so there are plenty of them to choose from to fill a sketchbook. This depends on what type of sketch you are working on. If you are zooming in on the face of a dog, for example, the need to create shading and texture will be more definitive than simply sketching your dog from a distance where tonal colour and the odd jagged edge of hair will suffice. I tend to favour the latter as I only really have time to sketch for shorter periods of time and dedicating time to hairs and fur is a luxury I struggle with. It was a long journey, but eventually, we narrowed the competition down to 4 winners. Depending on how you want to play with your dog, you want to choose one over another. For example, while one excelled for games of fetch, another was the perfect chew toy. Furthermore, Tom Watson has given kids some pretty great definitions of words in his story, and the word discussions not only slide perfectly into the story, but are sometimes very funny. Delight in the definition of 'distraction'. I did. Especially Karen's contribution. I liked Karen. Make sure you have a sharp pencil or point and create clumps of hair by adding more hairs to the shape. Don’t rush to add lots of hair at the same time, instead draw a few considered strokes around clumps of fur in a “V” shape almost.