Copper the Howling Beagle from Steve's Sketchbook

Aaaaooo!

Copper the Beagle howls at the moon, at coyotes, at other dogs, at sirens, at the mailman, or at whatever else in this latest entry in Steve’s Sketchbook.

Maybe you remember Copper the Beagle from other posts around here. He is a very good dog, and he is always a delight to have around. He loves us unconditionally, and he is always happy to see us. Especially if we are filling up his food bowl or handing him a treat. But any other time is good, too.

However, Copper does howl. A lot. He doesn’t just bark, although he does sometimes do that. He howls. I suppose it is a beagle thing. Our German shepherd used to howl, too, but not quite as much as Copper does.

Sometimes I think that he thinks he is part coyote, because of all the howling he does at night. If we are outside when he is howling, we sometimes hear coyotes in the distance. Or other times we hear other dogs barking. But then on several occasions we don’t hear anything at all. Who knows what he might be howling at? I am sure he does, but I don’t.

I am not complaining. It really is not a problem, except maybe for those few times when we are trying to sleep and he is howling right outside our window. But those are rare. And hopefully, the neighbors don’t mind too much, as he is usually somewhere in the general area of our house and not in their yards. Plus, most of our neighbors have dogs that howl, too, just maybe not quite as much as Copper.

Who knows what sort of undesirable critters Copper the Beagle might be keeping away with his howling? We may never know.

About the Artwork

When I originally thought of drawing Copper, I had him facing the viewer and smiling, not unlike the smiling sea turtle. But then one night we were outside feeding the horses when Copper was howling. That suddenly inspired me to change this around to what you see here. It was then easy to add the moon and the coyote silhouette in the background, too, because I had not planned on what to have in the background before that.

I was pretty happy with the style here, with the slightly exaggerated, cartoon-style look for both Copper and the moon. I also liked the clouds in the nighttime sky. Procreate for iPad makes that pretty easy with a cloud brush. Just choose that brush, set your size, and start painting, and you have clouds. To me, that looks much better than a flat blue sky.

Here is a look at the progression of the artwork. In this, you can see the change in pose from smiling to howling. You can also see how much of a difference having some textures makes on the background.

Bible Verse

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” - Luke 6:27-28