Pet portraits: how painters capture fur, eyes and expression

How painting a pet differs from painting a person

With people, a painter works on proportion and the subtle transitions of skin. With pets, the work is in the fur: which way it grows, how it clumps, where it catches light. Get the fur wrong and even perfect eyes won't save the painting.

Which coats are hardest

• Black coats, because detail disappears into the dark. The painter has to find the blue and brown lights inside the black.
• White coats, because they turn gray and dirty with the slightest wrong mix.
• Curly coats, because each curl has to be painted as a group, not strand by strand.

Short, smooth coats in mid tones are the most forgiving.

Bringing the eyes to life

The eyes are painted in layers: the dark of the pupil, the color and depth of the iris, the shadow of the eye socket, and last, the small highlight that catches the light. That final touch is what makes a viewer feel the animal is looking back.

How a pet portrait is built

Most pet portraits are painted in three to five layers:

1. An underpainting that sets the shape and the lights and darks
2. The shadows
3. The mid tones
4. The fur, following the direction it grows
5. Highlights, whiskers and the eyes

When the only photo isn't perfect

Many pet portraits are memorials, and sometimes only one blurry photo exists. A painter can refer to photos of the same breed for structure and can add a meaningful setting, but the likeness depends on the photo you have. We'll tell you honestly how close we can get before we start.