If the eye isn't right, no matter how well the rest of the painting is, there is something not believable about it. This is why I do the eyes almost always at the very beginning of the painting.
I marked in the upper corner of my paper the direction of the light source. This is the easiest way to keep the highlights on both dogs in the same direction. I did Tassy's eye first.
From the highlight in the eye to the bottom there is reflected light within the eye (for a more detailed explanation see my posting on 07 August 2011).
The irises on both dogs are a lighter brown than what is called for in the breed standards for some of the other dog breeds which require very dark eyes.
Then I worked on Tracker's eyes being sure that the tops of the eye lids were on the same angle as the rest of the head.
Note the difference in the shape of the eyes. You have to be careful to get the position and shape of the eye and have it correct for the angle of the head.
