My Process | Pet-traits

For me, every portrait is sacred. It celebrates the life of a beautiful animal that I have the opportunity to capture on canvas. I try to make this process very personal and enjoyable for all of my clients. After all, it’s never about reproducing a picture uploaded on a website for me.

Getting to know your pet

I start by asking about the pet’s name, age, sex, personality, likes and dislikes, favourite activities, favourite spots, etc. I also ask for a lot of photos and videos, as they help me visualise the pet doing everything that’s being discussed. Animals speak volumes just through their body language and expressions. Every picture has a story behind it, which I would love to know.

Rico playing fetch	Fluffy perched on counter	Bella's puppy eyes
Simba ready for a drive

Selecting the right reference picture

A good picture is shot almost at the eye level of the animal and not from above. Depending on the size of the portrait that is selected, the picture can be a close up (for the 8”x11” size) or a long distance shot (for sizes above 14”x18”). Once I have gone through all the pictures and shortlisted a few, I need to make sure of a few technical details such as composition, lighting and resolution of the picture before selecting the final one. My style is detail oriented and every small detail like the pigmentation on the snout or the exact eye colour is important to me, because these details are what make each animal unique. I may sometimes refer to multiple pictures to capture these details accurately. Pictures taken from a standard phone camera in good light are generally good enough.

Turned away

Although this is a cute picture, his face is not visible and therefore it's not a great pick for a portrait. The most important feature in a portrait are the eyes, the window to the soul.

Booking your order

Once the size of the portrait and reference picture are finalised, a payment of 50% of the total amount needs to be made to book your order. The schedule will be defined and communicated within a day or two.

Digital Painting

My preferred medium for painting is digital art. I have graduated from art school with a major in Illustration, meaning I have considerable experience with traditional media as well. My style is old school, so I stay away from filters and airbrushing tools as I like my strokes to retain the rough edges and slight imperfections that come from a human touch. I work in Photoshop using a Wacom tablet that gives me a super sensitive control to create the fine detailing that I love. I use acrylic and pastel brushes. I have customised a set of brushes based on my preferences.

Work in progress video of the base coat shown in actual speed.

Build up to the final portrait through all the stages

Digital art is one of the most misunderstood forms of art, especially in India. Some people think that the software does all the work for you, which could not be further from the truth. The only difference between digital art and traditional art is that you hold a stylus on a tablet in place of a brush; every stroke is manually painted. A keen eye will know that a portrait painted by an artist is very different from the output given by a phone app using a filter. As a personal choice, I like painting the entire portrait from scratch, starting with the outline, followed by the base coat and then adding detail, layer by layer. I’m not a fan of painting over photographs.

Final Approval

I share work in progress images and the final portrait, usually on WhatsApp, for your approval. I respect the fact that you know your fur baby the best, so if you have comments like ‘his eyes usually look a bit more droopy’ or ‘something about her snout looks different’ I will be happy to carry out minor tweaks to make sure it looks just right. Once you approve the image, it will be sent for printing.

Before image on top, image below is edited to make the head broader

Before image on left. Edited image on right has a more droopy eyed look

The Finished Pet-trait

I get my artwork printed with a high end Epson printer on museum quality canvas. The canvas is mounted on a sturdy, high-quality wooden stretcher that is ready to put up. If you would like to get a frame added, I am happy to get that made through my framing partner Framebazaar, who has an impressive range of solid wood and metal frames. The artwork is packed securely and delivered to you through a reliable courier service. Same day delivery options are available within Mumbai. The portrait is dispatched once the final payment is made and a tracking code is shared.