Pet Art: Simple Guide to 3 Types of Portrait Lighting

The Importance of Lighting in Pet Art When you buy a pet portrait (or any portrait art) probably the most important thing is that it does a good job of looking like the animal or person in question. Because that’s the whole point, right? But a close second is how you feel when you look […]
Pet Portraits from Photos (Before and After)



Making Pet Portraits from Photos I paint pet portraits from photos, using one or more of my clients’ favourite pics to start off. The “or more” part usually comes in when the piece is a gift or memorial. Getting a perfect reference photo isn’t as easy as grabbing your phone and your dog and heading […]
Chihuahua Art: 5 Steps to a Beautiful Dog Painting



From Dim Photo to Chihuahua Art When I make custom dog paintings, I’m often asked how I go from reference photo to the final painting on canvas. This is as true for Chihuahua art as it is for Great Dane art! So I’ve created an ongoing series to share my painting process right from the […]
How to Take the Perfect Reference Photo for a Pet Portrait Painting



Some photos look great on your phone, but look terrible on the wall. Why? In this post, we’ll look at what makes a great reference photo, and why. In my experience, there are really three things: 1. Lighting: Your pet is lit by natural daylight 2. Image Quality/Size: The photo has enough detail 3. (Optional) […]
7 Steps to Painting Beautiful Pet Portraits from Small, Partial, or Poorly Lit Photos



Professional Pet Artist Zann Hemphill Shares Tips on Getting Good Art from Bad Photos It’s very important to me as a pet portrait artist that everyone who commissions work comes away with a painting they feel is not only beautiful, but captures their pet perfectly. The purpose of this article is to show how photos […]