One of the most important aspects of a pet portrait is a good reference photograph to work from. A strange angle, pixilated and poor quality photograph will not enable me to create the realistic portraits you typically see me create. If all the detail can be seen then it will enable me to capture all those in the portrait which will show their character, personality and any quirky traits.
In some cases, if sadly the pet is no longer with us, there may be a limited selection of ‘good quality’ references. In this instance, I have worked from lesser quality photographs but there are some cases where I cannot work from some and sadly I have to say no. For the cases where the reference photographs are not ideal but there is still some detail to work with I will try and enhance the photo in my editing software. I have drawn many many dogs so I can work through some quality issues from experience.
In some cases, if one photograph is a good pose but there flash of the camera caused ‘red eye’ for example I can use references from other photographs to add these details in. This is where an artist can improve on a photograph they are given. There has been many instances where this has happened.
If you are interested in commissioning a pet portrait but are unsure of what photographs to use or whether they are suitable for me to work from please don’t hesitate to email them across to me at zara.toms@hotmail.co.uk :).