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Meet our amazing Pen and Ink portrait artist
Q: What inspired you to become a pet portrait artist, and how did you develop your unique style?
I was not a born artist, which means I had no idea that I can draw till the age of 18. Then somehow I realised that I have the skills to draw (of course the realisation happened when I try to impress girls, like every teenager do these kind of things.) So I am not the kind of artist who is familiar with paint and brush. I am familiar with drawing software like Photoshop and Illustrator, but I love the manual painting style.
After college, I joined a freelance company who do book & portrait illustrations digitally. I got really busy there and I have learned so many things. When I got enough experience in digital artwork I begin to draw manual styles in Photoshop. I was experimenting to create a manual pen and ink painting style, but most of those were unsuccessful. Some of those turned out well.
After so many experiments I was satisfied with one, which I have attached here.
For me, there was not any intention to become a pet portrait artist. I was doing human portraits and book illustrations, then I got a customer who wanted to do portraits of pets. Every pet has its own unique personality like we humans have, it was really difficult to figure out the different personalities of pets at the early stage. But I worked hard then slowly I became an expert in pet portrait drawing, then I realised that I am really good at it. At least since 2017, I have done more than 5000 pet portraits.
What is the most challenging aspect of creating these portraits, and how do you overcome it?
I think if there is a bad image it’s difficult to capture the character. My experience helps me to overcome that.
How do you capture the personality and essence of each pet in your artwork?
If there are pets of the same breed they look almost similar, but if I look closely they have everything unique. I look closely and will draw, after I finished I will double-check to make sure there is nothing missing.
Do you have tips for pet owners to provide the best reference photos for their pet's portrait?
A good camera and good light make a good picture. If we have enough sunlight (not direct) a 5MP phone camera can take a good picture. If there is a blurred image with a happy face and a good quality image with a sad face, I prefer a happy face image, I can grab the details from the other picture.
