Over the last few months I've been defining my illustration system, streamlining it for improved results. 

1. Draw the dogs head and body separately so they can be resized independently. Scan this then crop into two objects

2. Size and orientate the body, set the drawing to linear burn, add the mid tone underneath (blue)

3. Using a pixel brush set to the shadow colour (Red) Shadows are drawn in using small sharp brushes for details and large soft strokes for occlusion. 

4. Using a pixel brush set to the highlight colour (Green) highlights are drawn and the texture of the fur in incorporated.

5. A gradient map is applied over the shading matching it to the hightlights, midtone and shadows.

6. The multiply layers are applied over the eyes, collar and nose.

7. A drop shadow is added with a gaussian blur to soften it and a background chosen by the client.

Thanks for reading, if you have any questions please get in contact.