Pet Portrait and Wildlife Commissions

Contact me to let me know that you are interested in booking a commission. I’ll respond within 48hrs at the most to confirm that I have room on my list and establish a rough time frame for completion. Please bear in mind that from the point of securing your booking (see Step 5) to receiving the completed artwork will depend on the amount of work already commissioned. If you have a time sensitive commission, please let me know.

I work from photographs and the quality of those photographs is important. 

For wildlife commissions, I am happy to source the reference photo for you, although if a fee is required to purchase the rights to use the image, this will be passed on to you.  For pet portraits, you will need to provide multiple high-quality photographs which will need to be approved by myself before I will accept the commission.  I will decline to work from poor quality photos as they will not enable me to do justice to your picture.

If, in the unfortunate event that your pet is no longer with us, send me any photos you may have and I will see what I can do.  There are some good pieces of software out there now that may allow me to improve older photos to increase the details/resolution of the images to make them workable.

If your pet‘s photos have been taken by a third party (professional photographer), I will need written permission from them to use their images.

If you are local, I can arrange to come and photograph your pet subject to an agreed fee.

Tips for photography:

• A smart phone camera, time and a willing assistant is all you need. 

  • You don’t need any expensive equipment.  Most phone cameras have high definition and resolution.  Take as many pictures as you can, I’m sure one of them will be ‘the one’!

  • Try to ask a friend to help.  Distraction is often very helpful so treats/toys being offered/waved around by a helper can be invaluable to encourage your pet to pose.

• If you want a pet portrait with multiple subjects, the photos can be taken separately but they have to work together.  So the lighting and location need to be similar and the focal depth neeps to be the same.  Ideally, take photos of all the pets you want to be involved in the same location at a similar time of day with similar weather or similar lighting if inside.  The light source needs to be coming from the same direction too!

• Try and find an area with lots of natural daylight (outside or by a large window).  This will ensure that the truest colours and detail are captured.

• Try to avoid direct sunlight or darker areas because this can cause the image to be over- or under-exposed.  If its too bright, your pet will blinded by the light and will squint so the eyes cannot be captured properly.  Also, bright light can create too many shadows which may mean you loose detail in the final image.

• Aim to get a really good ‘Portrait’ photograph so get up close and personal.  Although it sometimes works well to have a large detailed background, it can distract from the main subject.  Obviously, if you want a detailed background included, you are more than welcome.

• Try to get down to the pets level.  This will prevent distortion of the image (i.e. if a dog is sitting looking up at you at an angle, its nose will appear to be really long and will look ‘odd’ on the painting).

• Once you think you have managed to capture the perfect photo…take a few more and preferably some really close up shots of the important features such as the mouth, ears, eyes.  That will give me some additional detail that I may not be able to see on the other pictures.

• Send me some video footage of your pet too if you can, perhaps playing or doing what they love best. along with a description of their personality.  It can be really difficult trying to capture a pets soul and personality from a photograph and I’m very conscious that you may well see something different to me but the more photos I have and a bit of video footage can go a long way to helping me do that!

I paint in pastels on Pastelmat Paper/Board or Canson Mi-Tient Velvet Paper. They are in available in large sheets that can be cut to size so I can accommodate almost any request as long as it suits the subject matter. For example, trying to squeeze three subjects into an 18 × 24cm piece will not allow for enough detail, whereas putting one small subject onto a large 50×70cm piece with lots of background will make the subject feel ‘lost’ in the background. I will be more than happy to advise on what is most appropriate based on the reference photos that you provide.

The prices on the price list are a guide based on the pre-chosen sizes of Pastelmat paper. Those sizes can be altered though and if only small changes, the price is usually not affected.

The final price of the unframed portrait will depending on size and complexity of the painting (plain/complex background, single/multiple subjects etc.). Postage and packaging prices are quoted for at the same time as the prices of the commission.

Once the finer details have been finalised (including the price), I will send you an invoice and ask for 50% of the final price of the finished unframed artwork to be transferred to my bank account before I start the commission. The up-front payment secures your commission slot.

Prior to starting the painting, a ‘mock-up’ of the composition will be provided to you to ensure that you like and approve of the design of the artwork. This is particularly important where multiple photos have been used to create the final composition.

Once your painting is complete, I will send you a watermarked photo for your final approval. I will then send an invoice for the remaining fee and postage/packaging costs. The artwork will not be posted until all funds have been received.

All original pieces of work are covered with a sheet of glassine paper, sandwiched between two pieces of foam board, wrapped in bubble wrap and then put into a postal bag/box if small enough or wrapped in brown paper. Packages destined for the UK are shipped via Royal Mail with a 48 hrs tracked delivery. Packages for international destinations are shipped using ParcelForce. All packages are tracked and insured and you will receive an email to confirm shipment and the tracking number.