Ranger in Progress
This is a cell phone photo I took during the scratching process. It fits in between Stages 1 & 2 of the scanned images.
Ranger 1
Early stage of a 12" x 9" portrait of Ranger the German Shepherd Reference photo provided by my client Ranger loved the water, so that's what's going on in the background. It will taper off into black at the top, but otherwise it will look very much like the water technique I developed on "Determination" See it here: www.annran.com/website/gallery/pet-portraits/dogs/determination
Ranger 2
First layer of scratching on the dog is finished. Also some re-inking in a few places to add darks back in. Watercolor on the water too. That's streaky in places, but scratching in select areas will fix that. Next steps on Ranger will be scratching/re-inking to fine-tune and build depth. Then I can add color to him.
Ranger 3
More scratching on Ranger has softened his fur and blended some of the values. Some highlights scratched into the water has cleaned up the streaky look from when I initially added watercolor. Now Ranger is ready for color!
Ranger 4
First pass of color on Ranger. This will need more scratching to blend, bring up lighter areas and add variation in tones. I also need to work out the lack of contrast between Ranger and the water next to his face. The water is dark enough that I'll render Ranger the way I would a dark subject against a black background. Here's a video of scratching part of his fur, which is the next step after this stage: rumble.com/vs2w66-ranger-scratchboard-drawing-wip.html
Ranger 6 - Final
The finished drawing 12" x 9" on Ampersand Scratchbord, with watercolor