[The Last Raven]

Just a random title. I have "Bring Him Home" from Le Mis stuck in my head so I used a line from that.
Anyway, I felt like drawing a chocolate lab puppy lately and so I decided to give it a shot. I chose to do it as realistic as I could. I've drawn wolves sort of realisticly, but never short-haired dogs. I tried my best. I couldn't get the outer fur to look a little shaggy, so I kept it smooth. Hope it doesn't completely draw away the realism. What do y'all think? Any comments and critiques are very welcome. Likes as well! Oh, and if you know of a way to make the outer fur look real and not smooth, then please let me know!

Edit: This got moved to Intermediate??? :O yay!
O, and I finally refound my ref. I accidentally x-ed out of the picture before posting. *stupid me* ref

[Blitz.]

Amazing o-o This should be in intermediate D:<

Bad Raven! -squits with water bottle-
Next time, post your amazing work in intermediate :3 -jams the like button until it breaks-

[Paper-Hearts<3]

Aw he's adorable! Wow I love the detail in the eyes, and he has such a cute face 8D
Outer fur? I wish I could put my thoughts into words. I'm not good at explaining things. Good luck :3

[The Last Raven]

Awww! Thanks, Blitz! I wasn't sure if it would be good enough when I was drawing it, so that's my excuse for not being in Intermediate. :3
Paper-Hearts, thank you! The eyes were fun.

[AquaAngel]

Amazingly realistic! As you can see from my gallery, I am not good at realism, so I really can't help you there. But this 'lil chocolate lab is so cute, I adore him! Beautifully realistic, the eyes are gorgeous, and I find the fur fine the way it is! Keep up the great work!^-^

[The Last Raven]

Thanks, AquaAngel! I'm glad you like it the way it is. ^^

[Alexandra***]

If I could offer a bit of critique (Not that I'm any good at realism myself, buuut..):

The ears stick out a little too far and are a bit too large for his head. Also, instead of making the outline of his body so defined, you should make it look like fur by using the smudge tool to move the "fur" upwards so it isn't so smooth against his body.

Other than that it's great. x3

[Soruc]

Ooh, I like it! Really nice, especially the nose. ^^
Some critique on the ears- I find that the ears aren't that big, especially on pups, and that they press up on the sides of the head. ^^

[The Last Raven]

Thank you for the critiques! I will be sure to fix that next time.

so-so, thanks for the fur help. What size should I make the smudge tool for the fur to come out the best?

[Alexandra***]

Thank you for the critiques! I will be sure to fix that next time.

so-so, thanks for the fur help. What size should I make the smudge tool for the fur to come out the best?

Gee, I don't know. It depends on the real life animal's fur length. Maybe 3 or 4? For really extreme short-haired animals, I use a size 1 just to make it more realistic, but for dogs with the longer hair, I'm not entirely sure. D: