Here's a little blog post on a recent Jack Russel Portrait I created as a pet portrait commission.
I was asked to create a jack russell portrait of Meg, as a gift for the commissioners daughter. The first step of creating any portrait is to get the photos we are going to use for this jack russell portrait commission.
Jack Russell Portrait - The photos
The photos that I was originally sent were okay, but not absolutely ideal so I sent over some links to my pet photography guides and blog posts in order to help in getting the perfect photo for this portrait. It took a little while for this little Jack Russell to pose in the perfect way, she was apparently a little bit of a stubborn dog, who was not easily bribed! We settled on creating a 3/4 body jack russell portrait in pastels. Using the original grassy backdrop as the background. I really liked how the green contrasted nicely with the white and brown of the fur.
Jack Russel Portrait - The drawing
This little jack russell sadly passed away between me receiving her new photos and starting the portrait. I was very determined I was going to create the perfect portrait to remember her by. She had white fur with lovely brown patches, that were made up of lots of different coloured individual hairs. It was very important that I got the mix of hair colours correct in order for the final portrait to be truly accurate.
Working from a very high quality photo is much easier thank working from a low quality photo, the small details are visible, the colours are accurate. This means the final portrait can be highly detailed and accurate too.
This portrait took me quite a long time, I had to keep putting it away and coming back to it in order to look with fresh eyes. It was very important all her colours and markings were in the right place and were correct colours.
In this photo you can see the mix of colours in her coat making up her markings. It was very important to make sure everything was just right.
I was very satisfied with how the background of this portrait turned out, I felt it had a very natural, organic feel. The green colours contrasted nicely with the fur, making her stand out nicely.
Jack Russell Portrait - the finishing touches.
Here you can see the finished jack russell portrait in its high quality mount. This finishes off the portrait nicely and complements the colour scheme as a whole.
This little jack russell's owners were delighted with the finished portrait, and are looking forward to gifting it to the final recipient. I hope it will be a lasting reminder of their beloved pet.
To find out more about the commissioning process and how to commission your own jack russell portrait, click the button below.