Bodhi’s portrait was a Christmas gift to a little girl from her parents. Their family dog had passed away and the little girl continued to talk about Bodhi. Her parents decided to surprise her with a custom hand-rendered portrait that would represent a true likeness.
Since the dog was gone, there were no opportunities to take new photos. The parents collected as many as they could find. Many were beautiful group shots of the family with the dog. Bodhi was facing forward with happy, alert expressions on his face. Unfortunately, Bodhi was too far away in the photos to be able to see the detail I need for the portrait.
However, they did have two profile shots taken at a close range. The dog had different facial expressions in each shot.
The first challenge: I liked his eyes and ears in one photo and his muzzle in the other photo! I laid out the original drawing making sure it looked natural. The eyes had a soft expression and the ears weren’t pulled back. His mouth closed with a soft expression without teeth showing.
Another minor challenge: the lighting was different in each shot. One had cooler, bluish light. The other photo had warmer (yellower) light from the sun. I had to make an artistic decision, choose one lighting tone and be consistent.
I noticed his collar was the same in every photo. Often, I don’t add collars. In many cases, they change throughout a dog’s life. Occasionally, a pet has a special lifetime collar and, in that case, I like to add it. I chose to remove the tags showing in the reference photo and just drew the one with Bodhi’s name etched into it. Thought the little girl would enjoy reading his name.
The family was pleased with the finished portrait. I enclosed a small print encased in plexiglass, so she could carry it around with her. It was a great surprise for the little girl!
