Now entering my 3rd year as an artist, pet portraits have been my most common request for a commissioned painting.  More specifically dog portraits.  I have not gotten any requests for a cat as of now, for whatever reason, but dog portraits have been a big part of my recent work, especially the months leading into Christmas of 2019.  There have been several different reasons why the customer has requested the pet portrait, the majority of them were of a dog that had passed away and they wanted a piece to remember them by.  Others included commemorating a specific occasion with their pet, or just wanting the portrait done because of their love for their dog.  I have gotten fairly comfortable with my process for painting dogs now, and I have posted videos of my process on my YouTube channel. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI54kN-Z_ys&t=7s

I always start with a basic pencil sketch and then block in a base layer of color in acrylics.  I downsize my brushes and work with lighter and darker shades of color to highlight out the details.  I tend to gravitate towards landscape and wildlife paintings when I am picking a subject to paint, so painting dogs is right in line with me doing any other type of wildlife and I enjoy seeing the finished product come together.