Custom Animal Portraits

I am always flattered when people want me to do portraits of their pets. Sometimes it's an emotional request, since their beloved animal is no longer with them. I am a bit on the fence about it, since I know there are a great many talented artists out there who do wonderful and realistic animal portraits, which is not really my forte. Luckily many people understand that, and apparently that's not why they pick me to paint or sculpt their pets.

This portrait of Noisette and Océanne, two lovely bunny sisters I got to know on the flickr BLU group (bunny lovers unite). Their bunny mum had a wonderful idea about Noisette tucking in Océanne, and this is the result.



Here are a couple pendants I made of Shelby the rat, who is no longer with us. The customer wanted one for her and one for her daughter, something they could carry with them to remember her by.



Like any custom work, I rely on a lot of intuitive feel for what the customer wants. Sometimes I get it wrong, or there is miss-communication with the customer about what they see in their head and what I end up creating. I don't see this as a bad thing, because like any art, it's often about the process and not the finished piece. I really enjoy the challenge of custom work, and getting to know my clients better in the process.