For this piece, I used charcoal and ink to create a semi-realistic portrait of the Michaud's dog, Mando. I used techniques that we learned in class to blend, and add highlights, as well as used different values for contrast and liveliness. I also used the grid method to get the proportions of the piece just right, which we also used for our realistic self portrait. This piece relates to my life because it is a drawing of my best friends dog. I love those boys and their dog too.

For this project, I used two materials I had never used before in my 15 years, and that is charcoal and ink. I've seen some, impressive to say the least, works with charcoal so I was excited to use it. The ink, not so much. But it still worked out well in my opinion. In addition to the charcoal and ink, I used a ruler for the floor boards.

The processes of the piece were processes I have used previously, just not with these materials. I used some specific tools more than I had for previous projects, including the tortillon, which I used for the entire drawing and it was probably my biggest help. Surprisingly, though, I didn't use the sticky eraser used for highlights and such as much as I did on my self-portrait. I'm not sure why, but I hardly used it at all in fact. To create this piece, I started with the grid. The grid is such a helpful way to draw, but I must admit, I did not use it as much as I did for my self-portrait this time around. It was hard since the entire floor consisted of diagonal lines. Instead, I drew mando with the grid, and placed the floorboards accordingly, then freehanded the rest. I did use some regular techniques for the dog though, without going square-by-square. After getting the grid down I started Mando, I started from his tail and it was going well. I drew his entire outline first, though I know it's kind of against the rule and little bit. Then I continued into his fur. Like I said, the tortillon was probably the biggest help to the project, and I used it for every aspect of it. I would draw streaks with the charcoal and blend with the tortillon, by doing this I could shade, and keep value throughout the piece. As I moved up Mando, I experimented with the white charcoal. I liked it a lot but I knew that if I used too much the piece could fall apart. I used it for highlights, for instance behind his ears. For the last piece of the dog when I was done with him, I added a white outline which I thought would help him stand out from the floor. I like how it looks and it helps see him as the center of the piece. Moving on from Mando, I started the floorboards. You might be confused where the ink is but I used the pen for the board outlines. I was honestly nervous to use it because i'm just not used to that material or paint in general, so I used very little of it to preserve the charcoal drawing as a whole. I started on the left side of the floor, and used a similar technique to what I used for Mando's fur. I would draw a streak then blend it in, as I went along, I also used white charcoal to give the floorboards texture and a sense of being. I added darkness, and highlights to the floor so that the boards were all unique. As I drew in the floorboards I was making up my mind whether to include my shoe and the dog toy in the back. Eventually I decided to include them and I put them in before the floorboards around them. The shoe was fun because I could experiment a little bit with the process. I added plenty of highlights to it and it turned out well. The dog toy took about 15 seconds and was quite easy. I then continued with the floor, using my same technique and it went rather quickly. And finally, it was done. My next steps in this project would probably be to fix the eyes. Since the yes were so small, they were hard to capture detail in, I would probably just redo them with sharper charcoal. I would also probably add some more detail to Mando as a whole, some shading here or there and details in the fur. And add a second lace, I guess I forgot that too.