Throw The Ball!

When I do commission work I often work from photographs. We discuss what the client is looking for and I draw a quick sketch to show them how I interpret what they are asking for. This is an example of one of those sketches. A client asked me to draw their old dog Damask, who was a Red Tick Hound. Damask used to love to play in the backyard and have her red ball thrown for her to fetch. They asked that I draw her waiting for the ball to be thrown, at complete attention. This is what I came up with. 

We discussed the picture and they made a few suggestions and pointed out things they would like changed. So now when I paint the final picture, I have this AND the photos AND their advice to work from. It really makes the whole process a lot easier.