Charli (New Pet Portraiture Style)

 

9-26-25 Charli (reference photo by Katelyn This)

For a while now, I’ve been thinking about ways to continue making commissioned pet portraits as a fundraiser, but in a different style. Although I still enjoy making colored pencil portraits, they are no longer challenging in the way they used to be. They are also time-consuming. After making nearly a hundred of them, I thought I would eventually reduce the length of time they take, and I did become more efficient over time, but the nature of the medium just takes time. I don’t want to raise the price to be commensurate with the time because that might be a barrier to donating (and I’m not interested in spending time on something that no longer challenges me anyway).

I practiced some looser styles at home, and then I was serendipitously given an opportunity to practice under live pressure (fun, though a bit daunting).

My intention was to continue practicing variations of this looser, quicker style before I opened up offers for commissions this fall and winter. But as these things seem to happen, Charli came as a commission request from one of my most generous donors and supporters. How could I say no, especially when I saw the sweet face of this pup? (Charli had to be put down recently, so making her portrait was especially poignant.)

These materials didn't quite hit the mark I was looking for.

Although I like the speed and efficiency of using a brush pen with a gray marker for shading, and I also like the comic-y look (at right), I wasn’t quite satisfied with my practice results so far. I decided to use Charli as a guinea pig, so to speak, to try different variations. I was prepared to make several tries until I was satisfied, but on the first try, I came up with this combo of two ever-faithful favorites: the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen and my Sailor Naginata Fude de Mannen fountain pen with Platinum Carbon Black ink.

While the brush pen did most of the work, I wanted a finer tool for important features like the eyes (which I believe is the feature that pet owners connect with most significantly, so the eyes have to be right, whatever “right” is). Although I didn’t use it much this way with Charli, I think the Sailor fude would also make a good hatching tool when I want to shade lighter-colored fur.

Charli’s portrait took only about 20 percent of the time it would have taken if I’d used colored pencils, yet I found it challenging in a different way. With my previous tighter style, the tedious block-in stage often took up to an hour because I was trying to be as accurate and realistic as possible. With Charli (and my brush pen/marker practice portraits), I made quick measurements with my eyeballs to gauge general proportions, but I made no block-in marks at all. I just observed closely before hitting the paper with the pen and brush. I hope the owner will feel that I captured Charli’s essence without trying to accurately duplicate the reference photo.

As happened with my colored pencil portraits, I’ll probably continue to revise my materials and techniques as I do more of them, but I’m pleased that I already have a method I’m happy with so that I can proceed confidently with more commissions. Before that, though, I’m getting more practice – during InkTober! Stay tuned for my first report soon.