[Wiggly Butts] #7 - Labrador Retriever

Here is the long awaited Labrador Retriever from my dog breed series! For those who have just started coming to this blog, I've recently started a design series based on all the breeds of dogs. You know those little stick figure family bumper/window stickers you see plastered all over SUV's and vans? If something as simple as that could explode into something so loved, imagine what people would do for something similar of their pet? Better yet, customizable to LOOK like their pet! I'm drawing each breed of dog in a standard pose, but the customer will be able to customize it however they like (colors, markings, collars, bows, missing limbs, accessories, etc). They will be sold as digital copies as well as prints, stickers, bookmarks, magnets, scrapbooking accessories, and more! They aren't up for sale yet, but if you're interested, feel free to comment or send me an email with questions.

Getting back to the project -- I decided to show the process of how I do each dog. I DO have a YouTube channel that actually records my screen while I'm shading/coloring, but I figured still images of each step wouldn't hurt either!

Step 1 - Sketching! For every breed, I find a couple of reference pictures of the breed and start the sketch within Photoshop CS4. I use a 4px brush and my document size is anywhere between 8.5"x11" to 11"x17" with a resolution of 300dpi. Sketching allows me to have a pretty finalized image of the dog that I trace over in Adobe Illustrator.

Step 2 - Lineart! Despite my love/hate (mostly hate) relationship with Illustrator, I always use this program to do the lineart. Unlike Photoshop, Illustrator allows me to resize the lines however big/small I may want them without distorting the quality. If I did the lines in Photoshop and wanted to make them bigger, I would have to do them over. So for time saving purposes, I do my lines in Illustrator. I have one layer for the sketch (with an opacity of 40% or so) and a few layers for the lineart itself.

Step 3 - Coloring Layer! Before I start the shading and highlighting process, I make a color layer, which is basically the base layer for my clipping mask and the layer I put all color/markings on. I simply magic wand the areas, expand it to about 6px, and use the paint bucket to fill in the blank layer (under the lines layer) with whatever color I choose.

Step 4 - Base Shading! Making a new layer (using the color layer as a clipping mask) and multiplying it, I start the base shading. I use just a regular, hard brush and basically cell shade the little guy (the gradient shading comes next, but it's shown in this image).

Step 5 - Gradient Shading! This is where I start the gradient shading, which is done on the "shading" layer. I lasso the area I want to gradient shade, set the gradient to about 55% (using the foreground to transparent one) and drag the tool across the selected section a few times till it looks good.

Step 6 - Highlighting! I make another layer on top of the shading layer for highlighting, changing the opacity to about 63% and using overlay. Usually while I'm shading, I'll lasso the area along the cell shade and throw in the gradient highlight. I use a very light yellow color for highlighting.

Step 7 - Bluelights! Adding another layer on top of the highlighting layer, with the opacity set to about 60%, I do the bluelights. Bluelights are the little white bits of highlighting along the shading -- they are one of the favorites parts of my style and I think it gives the piece lots of definition.

Step 8 - Coloring the Lines! The lab was relatively easy because he was just one color, but sometimes coloring the lines can be the hardest part if the dog has lots of markings (like the Aussie). All I do is lock the transparency on the "Lines" layer, take a brush, and color away!

Step 9 - Done! Add my watermark and boom, there you have it!

First of the bookmarks

So after getting frustrated with the lack of correctly aligned outcomes the first 100 times I tried printing and cutting the bookmarks, I finally tried it again -- this time with success!

For some strange reason, the printer would print the Silhouette's registration marks perfectly on regular computer paper, but it would print them off of the page on nice photo cardstock (with the same print settings). I probably wasted 20+ pieces of that photo paper trying to get it to align right. So I finally decided to place the paper above the line on the cutting mat and it worked! I sent the file to the Silhouette and let the cutting begin!

I attempted to laminate the paper with my Xyron 900 before putting it in the Silhouette, but the laminate wouldn't stick to the cutting mat, which resulted in a really messed up cut and another wasted piece of expensive photo paper. So instead, I let the Silhouette do it's thing, peeled the bookmarks off of the mat, and put them through the Xyron as individual pieces. I suppose it saves me a but more laminate, so there's a plus!

 














Once they were laminated, I cut them with scissors (because it's simply a matter of cutting against the sides of the paper) and prettied them up with my rounded corner hole puncher. Seriously, if you don't have one of these, I suggest you invest in the $8 to get one. I love the thing. And it's blue! :D

Next was making the tassel, which was relatively easy thanks to this awesome video I found on YouTube -- making a tassel. I base the colors of the tassel off of the colors that are displayed on the bookmarks. In this case, Kailey and Bella are both Bichons, which happen to be white. However, they always wear red and blue bows to help tell them apart and they also sport a bit of brown/tan on their ears -- so that's where I got the colors from.

And there you have it! My first two bookmarks finally complete. My bags should be arriving in a few days, so I can't wait to show these off all packaged and pretty!

Another blog?

Yes. And it is necessary, I swear. I feel like the blog on my website doesn't get as much attention as it should because it's not part of a big global community like Blogger is. People can't exactly search for my blog like they can here, and I would love for people to be able stumble upon me -- I have fun stuff! I figured I would keep the blog on my website to mainly discuss client projects, and use this one to post pictures and videos of all the crafty things I do!

So if you enjoy cute dog stuff, scrapbooking, tutorials, project ideas, and more, please follow me! I'm always looking to make new friends who enjoy similar interests!