Lifelike and Expressive Custom Pet Portraits
Updated: Aug 21
I love painting animals and creating colorful, lasting portraits of my clients' pets. I'm always driven to figure out how to accurately paint their fur, how to capture the soulfulness in their eyes, and how to bring each animal's unique features to life on paper.
Pet portraits are a very popular subject. If you are considering commissioning a custom portrait of your pet(s), the following is a list of what to look for in a pet portrait, and why I think my pet paintings are among the best you'll find:
A pet portrait should capture the pet's "soul." I've had psychic and empathic abilities all of my life. From the age of four, I realized that I had a particular gift for communicating with animals — an inner knowing that I understood what they were thinking and feeling, and that they understood my thoughts as well. Eventually, I honed these skills and built a successful consulting business as an intuitive animal communicator. Connecting with an animal's "soul essence"* is something that I actually can't turn off — it's completely automatic for me. Their essence flows to and through me as I paint their portraits. This might seem odd, but I believe that it allows me to capture a pet in the truest, most accurate and lifelike sense. The psychic abilities I utilize in my pet portraits are a big plus for creating a great end result — and it's a feature you won't find in most portrait artists.
*Even if a pet has passed, the connection I make with them while making the painting is the same I make with those that are still living, because the "soul essence" of who they are does not disappear.
"Gilbert", custom watercolor pet portrait, 10" x 10" The eyes need to be lifelike. After I've done an underdrawing, I carefully start painting the eyes. So much is conveyed through the eyes of any living being, so I pay particularly close attention to depicting their qualities and expressiveness. I always do the eyes first because if they aren't just right, the end portrait won't be right, and it should be scrapped and started over. My clients always remark on how lifelike the eyes in my paintings are, and therefore, how I've really captured the personality of their pet, and how it also creates a strong visual connection with the viewer. (This is especially meaningful when the pet is no longer living.)
Be selective when choosing your source photo. I worked for many years as an advertising art director. One of the things art directors are expert at is going through large numbers of potential photos, judging which have the best composition, lighting, and gesture. Art directors also know how to edit and selectively crop photos for the greatest impact. These skills are very useful when I'm working with a client to decide on what will make the best portrait of their pet. I'm always able to tell you which photo will ultimately make the most successful painting — and why.
For pet portraiture, artists need to take the care that realism requires. I've seen many pet portraits that resemble cartoons, caricatures, or appear as if they were painted in haste — that's just not my style. The details unique to each pet are what makes the painting look like them. I put a lot of time into getting their fur and other details just right. The relationship one has with a pet is unlike any other connection you'll ever have, and although my paintings are certainly joyful, I take creating them really seriously.
See more animal paintings — including wildlife — on my Instagram page, and contact me on my Connect page to learn more about commissioning your own custom portrait.
