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WooflesArt — ACEO: African Treasure
#aceo #africa #africanwilddog #africanwildlife #animal #canine #capehuntingdog #sunset #africanpainteddog #coloredpencil #traditionalart
Published: 2017-02-06 05:05:49 +0000 UTC; Views: 636; Favourites: 67; Downloads: 1
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African wild dog, AKA African painted dog, cape hunting dog. Currently endangered with only about 6,000 remaining.Rather pleased with how this one came out! If I were to do it over again, I'd make sure the ears were more the same size, and maybe do a different color for the background. While I like the sunset colors, I think they make they don't match the shading/lighting on the African painted dog.
I'm thinking of doing an ACEO trade like this-- would anybody be interested in one?
Critique warmly appreciated!
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Comments: 30
This is such a beautiful card, seriously! The dog looks so friendly and I like the strong lineart. The colours fit very nicely ion my opinion, gives a real african feeling. And you did a great job on the anatomy!
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Thank you! I love the colors in it too, it is my favorite ACEO so far.
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I like it, the colors you've used in the background make the hyena stand out really beautiful! 
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Thank you very much for your kind comment! I like the colors too! This is an African wild dog though, not a hyena. They are often confused but are two very different animals. www.outdoorphoto.community/gal… The big one is the hyena, the one on the right is an African wild dog.
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Oh, allright... they look really similar to each other
You're welcome ^^
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I like the greens and blues for shading- and the tongue detail is great, canine tongues are so much fun to color. There's so many different colors you can see! It looks great!
pierre
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Thank you! I actually used blue for the shading, but the blue combined with the goldenrod color of the fur turned it green. The leaves are green too, so I guess it doesn't look too out of place, but I need to be more mindful of changing colors in the future!
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Oh wow!!! You defiantly should be extremely proud with how this turned out, because it turned out so awesomely!
You can truly tell you spent a lot of time on this, and it truly does show! I just adore how you did the face, and the ears! The facial anatomy looks really good! My favorite parts have to be those ears, but really the way you did the eyes! They are so nicely done, and I love the small hints of gel pen detail you did to really bring some life to the overall coloring/detail. Speaking of coloring, I love how smooth and nicely blended the coloring is, it really gives the markings such a nice real look. The background, while simple really adds to the image. ^^
This is overall so good, and probably one of my favorite pieces you've done! I also should admit I admire you being able to work on such a small space. ACEOs are so hard for me, but you really put so much detail into this! Nice work hun. ^^
I would be up for a trade! Though granted, like I already shamefully admitted I can't do ACEOs to save my life (darn drawing so big). Haha.
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Oh and yes, of course I'd love a trade with you! Always! It's ok if you don't want to do an ACEO size, any size is fine with me. You could choose between my usuals of Baron and Sugar! Or you could do Simon--nobody has done him before! I just haven't uploaded any pictures of the little beast yet. He's a tuxedo cat with perfectly symmetrical markings, very handsome, except for when he is shooting snot rockets.
What can I draw for you? Would you like ACEO size or different size?
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Oh awesome! I actually think I have some photos of Simon you sent me sometime ago for our last trade that I think fell through since we were both dealing with wrist pains. ;n; I would be more than happier to draw him though, because you know how much I love black and white cats (plus yay for feline practice!). You are also welcome to do a ACEO on your part, I don't mind at all! ^^ I could try to do one, though they are so hard for me to draw so small. Haha. So I hope you don't mind if I do just a normal drawing on cardstock (though I will try to do a ACEO sized drawing!)
Hm. Would you possibly be up to maybe draw Mr. BearBear Bear Bear Reference Sheet or if you are looking to attempt a different animal, maybe my bunbun character Toffee Toffee Reference sheet
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Ok! Let me know if you need more photos to go off of! Any size drawing you do will be fine! I'm really enjoying the ACEO's because it feels like it isn't such a huge, overwhelming undertaking. And I'm getting better and better with fitting the characters onto the small space. I've started on Bear Bear! The pose I got him in is sooooo cute, I can't wait to finish and show you!
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Hm. The two photos I have are him on his back so if you could send me some of his face and side view that would help! ^^
It can be overwhelming when working on full blown pieces of art, regardless if they are fully done or not - I think its this why a lot of artists (or maybe just me), I easily get bored with submission and tend to rush them due to this.
Oh man, I'm super excited to see it! I'll start on my half as soon as I finish Etoh's V-Day gift, and this sabre which is literally taking everything out of me. Ugh. Just coloring it now, but boy does he take sometime to color. Haha.
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I'll send you some more photos of him! Also I found a half finished crappy reference I did of him. I'll send that too, lol.
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Aaahhhh thank you so much for your kind comment!!
I was at an art gallery today, killing time while waiting for a lunch date with friends, and the curator asked if I was an artist, because she saw how closely I looked at the art. I said yes, and she asked if I could see something I did, and I showed her this. She said she would like to sell it as a greeting card!! 
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Oh wow! That's such a huge deal and compliment!
Are you considering it? Or maybe consider selling them online as gift cards or something? There's so many amazing sites, and this image is simply beaitiful so I think it would sell (plus who doesn't love AWDs).
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Yes, I told her I'd bring in the original later this week! But first I want to fix the streaks in the background. Not sure if it will sell, but it is worth a try! I'd keep the original, I think, and they would sell high quality scans in a larger format.
The only people who don't love AWDs are the ones who don't know about them yet!
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Beautiful card! And I find the sunset colors rather pleasing- strong lineart (with beautiful for rendering) still makes the dog pop! I like the shading on the dog and the use of blue instead of just "brown and darker brown", "ochre and darker ochre". It adds realistic feeling! However, while the dog is colored quite carefully, it is quite distracting to see the hasty strokes in the background and on the "frame". Also, plants usually don't have their leaves spread out so evenly- a bit more variation in branches, maybe an overlap or color variations as well, would greatly improve it, I think! Also- to my eye, the ears don't look that much off- rather it looks like the dog perked ears forward and is attentively looking at something.
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Thank you very much for the constructive critique! I think I'll go back with a colorless pencil blender and smooth out those strokes in the background, I admit I got a bit impatient near the end and just wanted it done! I didn't notice the streaks until I scanned and enlarged it. That is a good point about the branches I had not thought of, and one I will definitely work on next time. I've very little practice with plants and backgrounds but I want to get better at them because they add so much to the picture. I'm glad to hear the background doesn't overpower the dog!
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You're very welcome! I love when people ask for critiques, even though I'm shaggy at expressing myself. The very notion of someone wanting to improve makes me want to overcome it and actually try to be helpful on their journey! 
I don't know if the blender will help- from my experience with pencils it doesn't help very much after there's thicker layer of color put on the paper... But it is a patience-lesson indeed (and a big, flat areas were one of the reason I switched colored pencils to paints, haha! 
As for the background, the overlaps are actually a great way of suggesting what is in front and what is not- and the mind does the rest. To purposely put something behind something you want to pop out of the picture and let it peek out just a bit is actually quite common in artworks, be it classical oils or animated movie backgrounds. The thing is, the "back thing" should attract a bit less attention- less detail, lower contrast or value closer to background, things like that.
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And I appreciate every bit of help I get on my artistic journey! I've learned long ago that being receptive to critique is a key part of improving any skill, whether it be art, work skills, etc.
Thank you for your advice about the background! Do you find it helpful to do the background first, or the subject? I'm finding that I'm making my backgrounds to saturated and bright, and have a hard time getting the subject, which is so much smaller, to stand out in comparison.
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Your opinions are very mature! World definitely needs more people like you.
Hm... It depends, sometimes I do background first, sometimes last, sometimes together with main subject... The advice that I found most useful regarding the backgrounds is "less details, overlaps" I metioned and also "don't mind the color, mind the value range... and make it tighter than the point of interest". You know, the contrast difference between "darkest" and "lightest" is way smaller in the background. kailavmp.deviantart.com/art/ac… may be the best example of mine, to show you what I mean. I struggle with concept myself, but I certainly see how others use it to their advantage, and it was great "a-ha!" moment for me.
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Good advice! Thanks! I'll keep it in mind for my next piece of art!
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Good luck, I certainly believe your next piece will turn out great!
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