June's Pet Portrait

I was contacted this past February by a family friend, Joe, to do a pet portrait of the beautiful June for his wife, Emily's birthday. She is a tricolor Shetland Sheep Dog. AKA "Sheltie." AKA Adorable that what.

I love tri-color dogs. I happen to have one as well. June here was a black, tan, and white which leads to more variety in color choices. I knew Em's favorite color was mint or a turquoise blue. I even went as far as to ask her what colors she and her sister Laura liked for a quilt project just to be sure. (Laura is expecting a baby boy in August.) I decided to take creative liberty and change June's bandanna color. Joe supplied me with several pictures but this one had the best lighting. She is such a pretty girl and this picture captures her very well.

I put together this work in progress composition to show the changes from sketch to full color. I did end up using a lot of color pencil for this drawing. The reason for this is that June is a long haired dog. So pencil will help define lines and hairs. Doing this gives it a more realistic quality and cleans up the edges. My work typically won't look like a photograph, it will be a bright rendition of your furry loved one capturing their essence. Below there is an image of my "stare and tweak" stage. I will take a photo of my piece and then use my photo editor on my phone to circle problem areas. I refocus after that and go back in. You can really tell the difference with June's right eye! 

The detail shots! 

 

Joe managed to keep this portrait as a surprise until 2 days before her birthday, but she was still surprised by the results and LOVED it! I create pet portrait art for pictures like this:

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!

It was a joy to create June's portrait. I will be available for more portrait orders after June 5th, 2017.