Portrait of a Basset Hound on iPad.

This is a portrait of a basset hound I copied from a book. A book I have, amongst several others for reference purposes. The object of the exercise in this instance, was to assess how close the pastel tool on ArtRage was to that of actual pastel. Having used this medium in the past on many a portrait. To my amazement it not only matched pastel in terms of texture, but with the aid of the palette knife it also blended with other colours in just the same way had I used my fingers.

Although you can paint with your fingers on iPad it is not touch sensitive. You have to rely on the tools available on your app to achieve what you want.

The first stage is relatively advanced because I didn't think of keeping a record during the initial development. Nevertheless I began by blocking in the colours, making sure I had the position of the eyes and general shape of the dog's jaw and teeth just right in relationship with the rest of its head.

The next stage I sharpened up the details and added a few whiskers to his nose.

In the third stage I decided to remove the rather bright yellow patch of fur from under his jaw, and added some pastel to the background.

The final stage involved adding a line of bright hairs just beneath his chin and lightening the colour of the background paper slightly.

ArtRage has a good selection of papers on it's app, along with various canvases of different texture.