I own a dog and I really enjoy drawing animals which I often do as illustrations and now as portraits.

I’d be more than happy to portray your pet.

How to go about it?
Ideally I’d prefer to draw from life but it’s difficult to make an animal sit still for long enough unless they are asleep, which may not be desirable.
So I mainly work from photographs and/or sketches.
If you have photos which you wish to have turned into a portait then that should be fine – send them to me and I’ll see if they’re good to work from.
Alternatively you can photograph your dog – here are some guidelines:

Guidelines for photographing your dog:
Not too close. Many phone cameras have a fixed wide angle lens which distorts the features, so a 50mm or more lens would be better – or from at least 2 metres away (if the dog will stay at that distance…)
Get down to the height of the animal – unless they’re jumping or very tall.
Good lighting and exposure – particularly if the dog has strong contrasting black/white features.
Please don’t use flash. Direct flash washes out features (although with an angled white card you can bounce the flash off a wall to make it effective).
More than one photograph from different angles and positions is helpful – a single image provides little depth information – I’d reccomend 5 or 6.
Good resolution – more than 1000 x 1000 pixels please.

It can be quite a challenge photographing animals, so be patient. Ask a friend to help if need be.
These are simply guidelines – you might have the perfect photo that breaks all the above guidelines.

If the dog has passed away then I will need to see the photo before deciding if it’s good for making a memorial portrait.

I charge the following:
A3/A4 Pencil/charcoal: £120
A3/A4 pen and ink / watercolour / gouache / pastel £200
Group portrait – add £80 for each additional portrait.
Custom or scenic background – £60

Unfortunately I don’t work with oil/acrylic.
If you have a request that doesn’t fit the above pricing please ask and I’ll send an estimate.

I request 40% of the payment on commision and the rest on completion.

Photography:
I can take the photos for you for £60 per session plus transport costs.
With this I can provide you with up to 6 digital photos.

Framing and delivery:
I don’t do framing although I can recommend some excellent framers for you.
I work to standard sizes which are easy to find good value and quality frames in your local area.
Packaging and postage is £15 for commissions below £300.
I will be happy to deliver locally within 5 miles of Oxford for free.

Refunds
If you’re not happy with the final result then I offer a full refund for the picture, although this does not including the photography.

If you would like to commission a drawing or painting of your pet then please [enkode]contact me[enkode].