Dog portraits

[abbey44]

I wonder if I could ask for some opinions on here, please?

I've been painting animals for years, love it, and have often been asked to paint friends' dogs (from photographs mostly) for them. I'd really like to get a bit more serious about it and look for commissions, but I don't know whether I'm good enough, or just deluded. Obviously, friends and family aren't exactly unbiased, so it's difficult to judge. These are some of my recent paintings - what do you think? Would you think "nah, amateur" or "give your a head wobble love" or what...?

Think these are lovely - the Wiems especially!

They are lovely.

Gorgeous, instagram is a good place to promote things like this. I follow a dog photographer Rexdogphotography on there you get a lot from using the right hashtags and she gets a lot of repeat business.

You've very talented and def good enough. I would prefer a whole face and body if I commissioned you though, I'm not keen on the floating head thing.

Have a look on Etsy and eBay with keyword dog portrait and compare them with what you’ve done, I think they’re great, give it a go you’ve nothing to lose!

Thank you - the Weimaraners are my own, so I had them in front of me, which helped!

tootstastic - thanks, that's an interesting point - I've only ever been asked to do head/neck type portraits. Maybe I should try a couple of whole-dog ones, although the details of the face wouldn't be so close then, of course.

I do dog photography portraits, and I love the poses you've captured in these paintings. Getting a sense of depth can be difficult, you've really caught that with the two Weimaraners - and that's got to be something that's easier to get from life than from a photograph.

I would pay for one of these - I had drawings down professionally of my huskies and would love one of my current ttoodle - happy to share pictures of the ones I have paid for so you can see what other professionals do

Skihound - thanks - I'd love to see pictures of the ones you have, if you don't mind sharing them.

I've amended the Weimaraners and put them on bodies, as suggested - an improvement or not...?

Oh yes, much prefer them with the bodies 👍🏻 they're really very good and people love their pets, so you're bound to get business. The county shows and any hunting type shows would be a great place to pick up commissions.

I love these! I draw dogs too. I agree I like them better with the bodies

I thought that country shows would be a good venue - as well as horse-food stockists (there are loads of them locally, it's a very horsey area), I wasn't sure whether I'd just be showing myself up. My self-confidence isn't the greatest... Maybe I should just pull up my big girl pants and get on with it. I think I probably need to build up a portfolio of 20 or so paintings as examples, don't I? That'll keep me busy.

I love these and tbh I only ever see cartoon ones around. I’d love to have my dogs painted but ridiculously would like them to be on horses or something equally ridiculously

These are the ones I had if my girls - I quite like the style of “floating head” plus a little neck and the water colour effect

These were also done from photos

Lovely! I’m with those suggesting Etsy and Instagram as a way to spread the word. Lots of Christmas markets coming up soon too.

How much would you charge
for them? I've been thinking about commissioning a painting of my friend's cat for his birthday

I've been looking on etsy to get one done and you're way better than a lot on there!

Skihound - they're beautiful! The dogs and the paintings, that is. Are they watercolour...?

I've got myself an Instagram account - now I just have to learn how to use it I think I'll be too late for this year's Christmas markets, and I'm going away for Christmas in mid-December, but I could work on building up for next year. I haven't thought about prices yet, I'll have to think about that.

CandyMelts - thank you, you're very kind

They look water colour to me but might not be

Look on Etsy to see prices for comparable portraits. Start prices at the lower end because you can always raise the price if you get a lot of commissions. Most artists email the pic to the customer for approval before finishing it.
Good luck