I had the privilage of meeting Elli in person to take her photographs.I took about 10 - 15 shots of Elli and this is the one her owners chose. They have requested the harness be removed from the portrait. They were given a gift certificate for graphite pencil portraits from photos.
This is not the best shot but work begins on Elli's head and around her mouth, this took about 4 hours as I drew her outline in full first to get everything in proportion
I tend to work from right to left when I work in graphite pencil as I am left handed, this helps prevent any smudging as I work across the page. This has taken about 8 hours so far. Although no colours are involved Ell's fur is quite long and intricate. I quite like working on graphite pencil portraits as they are usually a lot quicker to complete, and everything appears on the page faster, you feel as though you are getting somewhere!!!
Work begins towards Elli's tail, she has dark shadows down her spine which I have began to put on. This is about 10 hours into the portrait.
Elli's portrait is nearing completion now, I have sent this image to her owners for approval and there may well be a few tweaks to make on their request. They are collecting her portrait and she will be mounted in black and put into a gold frame in keeping with their other pictures at home. I'm still undecided if I need to put in further work around her tail but I am happy with the grass near her front feet, anyone will tell you grass is impossible to draw!!! Elli owners came to collect her portrait, they were very happy with the finished graphite pencil portraits from photos, so much so that they are very interested in having another done at some point in the future of their son's labrador. View more graphite pencil portraits from photos in the galleries
Graphite Pencil Portraits from Photos 
