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Description
This is a graphite study of our puppy, Sunny, who has really brightened up our world since we got her and has managed to steal our hearts, especially my dad's. When she wants to play (which is almost all the time) she will bring you her monkey toy to play tug-of-war with her. She's our ray of sunshine

I tried a few different things with this drawing, mostly that I used a variety of pencils from 2H up to 6B rather than just my HB mechanical pencil. I'm not sure why I didn't use them before, seeing how lovely the range is and the different uses they have. I tended to use the 2H and HB for the lighter sections of fur to ensure I didn't go too dark (but I still think I did, just a little) while I used the 2B with a little 4B for the eyes, snout and nose. I attempted to try use some negative space to define the strands of fur, but I found it very difficult to wrap my head around and also do. Generally, I found difficulty in rendering the longer, more flowy strands of fur. For the highlights, I tried using a sewing needle to scratch the paper to create an indent, so the marks couldn't go over it. It worked better in some places more than others, but it was still worth a go! I also used cotton buds to blend the graphite, which is unlike me. I usually resist blending with pencils, as I prefer a more angular, mark-making approach than smooth transitions of tone. But here we are!

Also, if you have any feedback for how I could improve my drawings in the future, please let me know! I want to get better with more formal drawings like this one. Thank you!

Description
This is a graphite study of our puppy, Sunny, who has really brightened up our world since we got her and has managed to steal our hearts, especially my dad's. When she wants to play (which is almost all the time) she will bring you her monkey toy to play tug-of-war with her. She's our ray of sunshine

I tried a few different things with this drawing, mostly that I used a variety of pencils from 2H up to 6B rather than just my HB mechanical pencil. I'm not sure why I didn't use them before, seeing how lovely the range is and the different uses they have. I tended to use the 2H and HB for the lighter sections of fur to ensure I didn't go too dark (but I still think I did, just a little) while I used the 2B with a little 4B for the eyes, snout and nose. I attempted to try use some negative space to define the strands of fur, but I found it very difficult to wrap my head around and also do. Generally, I found difficulty in rendering the longer, more flowy strands of fur. For the highlights, I tried using a sewing needle to scratch the paper to create an indent, so the marks couldn't go over it. It worked better in some places more than others, but it was still worth a go! I also used cotton buds to blend the graphite, which is unlike me. I usually resist blending with pencils, as I prefer a more angular, mark-making approach than smooth transitions of tone. But here we are!

Also, if you have any feedback for how I could improve my drawings in the future, please let me know! I want to get better with more formal drawings like this one. Thank you!