Pet Portraits by Nikky

I recently finished a painting and am getting ready to start a new one. I have a great idea for the painting and most of the props I need to work from. The pet owner is having me paint a picture of her Lhaso Apso with its favorite toy, but of course in a non-traditional setting. She recently sent me the photos of her dog and I realized I did not explain to her the desirable qualities a good reference photo needs. I pride myself on making the animals in the paintings as close to the real thing as possible, because of this it is really important to have a good photo. The photos that the lady sent me were mainly taken inside, from an ariel view. When I paint my pet portraits the view of the animal is almost always at eye level. Therefore when taking a photo of ones pet it is great to get down at their level when snapping a picture. If you are not a professional photographer which most people aren’t the best way to get a good picture is to take it outside. The colors and tone quality of the photo are much better than photos taken inside. Lastly it is good to have many different poses of your pet. You want to get a good shot of their face and a good shot of their body especially one that shows the pose the pet is going to be painted in. The pictures of the Lhaso were mostly taken while the dog was lying down in a blanket. The folds of the blanket hid most of the dog’s body making it hard to get a good idea of the true subject. The key is, the better the photos the closer the painting will resemble the pet.