The Six Stages of Custom Pet Portrait Creation

This post gives you a peek "behind the scenes" of the various steps that go into creating my custom watercolor pet portraits.

Stage 1: Selecting the right reference photo.

The success of any pet portrait is largely dependent on the quality of the photograph. The photo below has good lighting and some sharp detail on the face. It also has a really "blah" background, and some unattractive and awkward areas "down below." Interestingly, it's so bland that it almost looks like a black and white photo. Not to worry, though, and from mid-body upward, we have good raw material to work with.

Selected source photo, which I ended up cropping to create a better design.

Stage 2: Constructing a cohesive color palette.

The next phase is decision-making regarding what the overall color palette will be. I test various pigments out on scraps of watercolor paper to decide what will be cohesive and lively. There are so many beautiful colors in the world of watercolor, but I keep my colors fairly limited for each painting, which makes the end result much more harmonious. And if I decide I don't like my initial color selections, I make other tests.

Stage 3: Preliminary drawing

I then make the preliminary pencil drawing. I submit these to my clients for approval before going on to the next stage.

My test strip of colors, plus the preliminary underdrawing, showing particular attention to the eyes.

Stage 4: Creating layers

I often lay in a background layer first, and then I move on to the eyes before starting a base layer of fur.

My first layer of the background, with some salt crystals on top — they create interesting texture as the paint dries. The painting is upside down at this point in order to keep the pigment from bleeding into the body of the dog before it dries. Watercolor moves — you can see at the very bottom how it has seeped down and pooled. With this first layer of color, the painting is already becoming more interesting than the source photo. I then move on to the eyes because if I don't feel I've perfectly captured the eyes, I'll scrap the painting and start over. Watercolor is unforgiving and unpredictable and you can't fix mistakes. That makes it challenging — but also really spontaneous and exciting! (You can see this in the blue area where it is just doing it's own thing, and it's an interesting result that could not be achieved by forcing anything.)

Stage 5: Finish layers

Depending on the pet and it's fur, I might have to do several layers to get it just right. (I find that the curly haired doggies always take me the most time!) You can see in the finished painting below that I've created a nice glow, which really sets off this dog's black and white coloring. It's a far cry from the blah photo I began with, and it will look really pretty on the wall.

Stage 6: Mounting and sealing

Most people choose to have me mount the painting rather than getting it matted behind glass. The finished painting is permanently affixed to a 3-D wooden "museum" panel and coated with several layers of protective sealant. I exclusively use lightfast pigments, so there is no risk of fading over time.

"Caesar", custom watercolor pet portrait, 10" x 10"