BRIARD pastel

Milli is a BRIARD who visits my shop regularly. The Briard is an old French sheepdog breed. She is quite big and as you can see very black and very hairy. I found it challenging to portray the vast amount of hair while still retaining the blackness.
I used mainly pastel pencil. I tried some soft pastel on the chest but then decided to remove most of it in favour of the pencils. The hair on her face is more hairy while the fur on the rest of her body is more curly and fluffy.
The purple background is a mixture of a couple of soft pastels. I first did a white background but it was too harsh. She was wearing a purple lead when I took the photo so I opted for this - I think the purple suits her.