Realism

A few days ago a student asked me how to make something look more realistic.  I wasn't really able to help, but I realized later, when I was faced with the problem in my own work, that the answer is texture.  Whether it's created with filters, blends or layer effects, texture is what "flat" images lack, and what "realistic" images are rich with.

So, in an attempt to create a more realistic bulldog, while still retaining its artistic beginnings, I went looking for texture.

I found it in two different places:  a fur effect (tutorial), and the motion blur filter.

Sounds simple, right?  Took a bunch of trial, error and experimentation.

OMG, an Inspiration!

At this point I did something terrible.  I had an inspiration!
Never, never, never deviate from what the client wants!
I know this.
I've learned it the hard way over and over, but apparently I haven't learned it well enough.
But it happened again.
While researching the art style, I came across some images showing the animal actually holding and/or drinking from a bottle or glass.  So, I thought, I had this area to the right of the image that was pretty open, I could do the same.
So off I went, spending my own time, (because you can't bill a client for time spent on something she didn't authorize) on what some people like to call deviation heck.  (Feel free to insert a different word.)
And here is what I came up with,
after finding several paws and legs and bottles, etc.,
and penning them, outlining, filling, etc.
and placing, warping, manipulating, liquifying, etc:

And.....

I hate it.

Well, I don't hate it, but I don't particularly like it either.

Poop.

Bulldog poop.

Typography-Yay and Boo

Next comes the part I equally love and hate:  choosing a font.
I love working with text, like making text portraits and playing around with individual letters, but when it comes to choosing a font I'm hopelessly indecisive.  So, here's one tool I sometimes use to help:

Unfortunately in this case it was no help at all.
So I went browsing through DaFont.  I wanted something a little retro, but heavy (it's a bulldog, after all).  I came up with a few possibilities.  Some I knew right away were not going to make the cut, but that's what choosing a font is like, you see a sample, but when you get it into your project you wonder how you ever could have looked twice at it.

Here they are:

Anchor Jack

Captain Swabby

Capture It

Market Deco

Scorched Earth

USSR Army

Walrus Gumbo

Still can't decide.
Captain Swabby and Scorched Earth are definitely out.

At first I almost tossed Walrus Gumbo, but the longer I look at it the better I like it.
Someone else might be tempted at this point to ask the client their opinion.

Let me tell you:  DON'T EVER DO THAT!
Just trust me.

As if I wasn't clueless enough, I went back for more:

Black Hawk

Chippewafalls

Muffaroo

Titulo

Immerman

What do you think? I like Muffaroo because it's dog-worthy, but I'm not sure it goes with the style I'm looking for.  The other two I'm leaning toward are Anchor Jack and Chippewafalls.  ...maybe Immerman...

Aaaaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhh!!!!!

Bulldog Brewery: Main image

The client's dog is an American Bulldog, and the only full-face photo she had was this one:

 But the quality didn't really matter, because I only need the image for tracing.  And this is what it looked like after I used the pen tool to outline her:

 Then I filled her in with white:

I placed the filled layer on top of the original (which I made black and white) and turned the opacity of the filled layer down just slightly to use the original for shading purposes:

 But it wasn't enough shading, so I added extra with a textured brush, keeping the opacity light and building up so I didn't overdo it:

Colored the eyes and added some lights:

Filled in the collar and stroked the paths with a thin brush:

I'll come back to her later and add some detail, but for now she's finished enough to use for placement.  By the way, I'm up to 15 layers and a little over 2 hours (including the background).

Bulldog Brewery

I was asked to create an image similar to this one, but using the client's dog (an American Bulldog) and her color scheme: 

The first thing I had to do was decide on a background.  I found one I really liked:

It has great texture and the perfect colors I was looking for.  However, it is owned by Maik Schneider, and I want this to be all my own.  So, I went into Photoshop and played around with the new textured brushes using the two colors I needed.  It turned out too rough looking, so I used the smudge tool to smooth it out:

Then I used this great filter called Alien Skin and applied a canvas texture:

It still didn't have the texture I wanted, so I went to this site called Morgue Files and found a photo I could use to add some texture:

I reduced the opacity to 25% and the blending mode to Overlay.  And here is what I ended up with:

Yes, I know it's not close to what I was looking for, but that's the point, right?  I want this to be my own work, so I used the other image for inspiration.  And I like this one better--

it has great texture, but the texture won't overwhelm the rest of the image, 

whereas the first one had those large-ish yellow marks.

Now, for the main image...