November 19, 2001 – This week's DaDane is a portrait of five-year-old Butch, Ch. Rokadanes Quincy, from Union Michigan. I met Butch at this year's GDCA National Specialty. I've known his breeders, Peg and Scot Billings of Rokadane Great Danes, for several years but this was my first introduction to Butch. (He is a very spirited animal!) Butch received his title at 17 months of age from the "Bred By Exhibitor" class. Peg handled him for all of his wins. Scot tells me that Butch's favorite foods are McDonald's french fries, cheeseburgers and filet mignon. He is crazy about lady Danes and highly disturbed by cats and squirrels – neither of which can he catch. Apparently he is a better lover than hunter!

For those of you who are interested in the process, here is the original photo (right) that I worked from. Like last week's snapshot, it was taken with my Nikon 990 digital camera. Most of my effort went into erasing the background, color correcting Butch's coat, opening up the dark areas, removing the collar, and painting his left eye with detail/highlights that were missing in the original photo. The background is a scene from England. I selected the landscape because it plays well with Butch's brindle coat and the generous sky provides a nice backdrop to show off Butch's lovely Dane profile."