Dream Day Sketching Pets @ Hermès

I had a pleasure sketching pets @hermes on Madison Ave for their #WoofDay Event at the end of September. In celebration of @humanesocietyny and @madisonavebid. I can honestly say this was my “dream job event”, the love I have for animals is endless and getting to sketch them was so fun! Below you can see I had a wide range of animals to sketch from Golden Retrievers, Pugs, Labradoodles, Dachshunds and even a cat! Yes, a CAT, I can’t tell you how extra excited I was to sketch a cat, as many of you know I have my cat Suess who is 12 years old! I’ve had her since she was a kitten and even my logo was inspired by her.

Madison Ave invited the public to shop with their dogs to benefit The Humane Society of New York, who provided free pet-related programming throughout the day, including talks and tips by veterinarians, meeting pets that were available for adoption, pet portraiture and other activities. Madison Ave and Hermès were both honored to support the compassionate and devoted work of the UES neighbors at The Humane Society of New York. This event represented an important milestone in making New York a dog-friendly city.

Spoiling your pets to a whole new level. Hermès has unveiled its new collection catered only to the most extravagant of canines. Serving as an extension to their Home, Outdoor, and Equestrian line, the brand is rolling out a series of luxury accessories for dogs. The new line includes baskets, leashes, collars, blankets, and even dog bowls made by the 184-year-old luxury house. In case you thought their pet-friendly items are also budget-friendly. One of Hermès' luxury pet items that has since turned heads online is the oak wood dog bowl inspired by their Chaîne d'Ancre jewelry motif. Made using traditional barrel-making techniques, the stainless steel bowls are enveloped by fine wood and can be separated into two independent bowls connected by their central magnets.

How To Draw Eyes

This is a fun one! Eyes are by far my favorite things to draw. In each of my sketches I start with the eyes even if it is a full body sketch. This “HOW TO” is going to be a fairly quick way to draw them. Depending on how much detail you would like in the sketch it could take 5 minutes or 5 hours. For this one we are going the minutes route.

STEP BY STEP

1. First find a great photo reference. It could be from a magazine, Pinterest or even looking at the mirror would work just fine.

2. I usually start with a pencil outline. Doesn’t even have to be a fancy pencil - I seriously love just a regular mechanical one. For this particular sketch I actually went straight in with ink tho. It is kind of a freeing to start with ink since there is no going back. I do try and start with lighter shades tho in case I don’t like the proportion I can layer darker colors on top and it will disappear.

3. Ok, after you have the eye shape down I like to go in with microns. You can also use an extra fine point sharpie for this too. If want to go the micron route you can buy them at Blick.

4. Next I go in with more copic markers. I like the soft brush side on these. It gives sort of like a watercolor effect. I add eye color and more shades of skin tone under the eye and on top of the eyelids.

5. I always like to add a light shade of pink in the inner corner of eyes. This somehow gives the sketch a more lively appearance. It’s also included in the skin tone set of copic markers I linked in step 4.

6. I love white charcoal better than white colored pencils when adding highlights to my sketches. It pops a bit more in my opinion. I add white accents to inner eyes (just a few small specks) you DO NOT need to make each eye look identical. This is a habit some people fall into. Each eye is not exactly the same on a person so the imperfections sometimes make it even more realistic! More white can go in the middle of the eyelid. I just blend it with my finger.

7. Next, I love to add light grey shading right below the top lash line and the bottom lash line.

8. For the brows on this piece I did watercolor but usually just do small lines upwards using my .005 black micron. You can find these at Blick Art Supplies and a bunch of other spots.

   If you have tried this and have had success please tag me @deanna_first on IG I would LOVE to see! Hope this helped. If have any questions comment below. :)