It's been a while since I took part in a contest. Despite all my tasks, decided to take a little break from work and do a quick sketch for the Draw it better Contest #18 by 
I haven't painted wolfs for a very long time, so this sketch was a challenge. But I believe it was worth a try.
I'm not entirely sure if only a wolf should be present in the composition or may include other characters, but I really wanted to add some spicy looking chick as a companion... or is the wolf her companion? I'll let you decide. ;)
Basic Sketch
I found this old sketch of a female face I wasn't going to post any time soon (because it was a study for some new character I was developing). She somehow resembled the theme so the decision was made pretty fast. The main idea was to merge the two figures to one another while preserving the dominant position of the wolf.
Basic Shade
Next was adding a main tone on the sketch. That way I know where the shadows would be. For this purpose I create a new layer and a soft brush on 50% opacity.
Adding Details
The illustration will be really crappy if some details are not added. :P
With the same soft brush but very small in size (only 5-7px) chose a bit darker tone and started to define the small fur hairs.
Adding More Details
Whew, that was a lot of fur hairs. But thanks to them, a more realistic effect has been achieved. ;)
Oops, I forgot to finish the second ear...
Adding Darker Tone
The wolf looked rather plain so next step was to add a darker tone for the nose, eyes and ears. Thus, the female figure does not seem to be dominant.
I was about to wrap this up and post it on Steemit but then came up with a sudden idea. One color wasn't that striking so maybe adding a second color would define the characters more.
Adding A Gray Background
Maybe too dark for the sketch but I forgot to paint the highlights on the skin and fur - I was using the white background before.
Final Sketch
And this is the final result. I think now they pop out even more. .
For some reason the gray background did not stand well. That reminded me to use a pattern overlay (Gouache Light on Watercolor) on Soft Light mode. This effect gives a more traditional style to the illustration.
I hope you like them!
. Have a sunny day, everyone! .
Thanks for stopping by!