How Long Does a Pet Portrait Take?
From First Photo to Finished Artwork
Most portraits take around 2 weeks once I start the drawing. However, because I work on a waiting list, it's always best to book well in advance if you need your portrait for a special occasion. To find out why it takes this long, read on ...............
Choosing the Colours
Initially this takes about half an hour but it's an ongoing process because I make an initial selection and then keep adding as I go along (and it's not uncommon for me to have so many pencils in my left hand, I drop them all trying to extract the one pencil I need!).
Initial Contact
When you contact me I will reply, acknowledging your email and send you my terms and conditions and tips for sourcing photos - this involves minimum time on my part. There's also a blog post about taking and sourcing photos which you can read here.
Choosing the Best Reference Photo and Planning the Composition
Although there are 2 steps here, I'm treating it as one because the reference photo can determine the composition and this bit can be time consuming! Depending on how many photos you send, this can take anything from half an hour to 3 or 4 hours. It's really important to me that we get the right photo in the right size mount and to achieve that I'm really happy to prepare as many mock-ups as are needed!
Preparing the Line Art
What's the line art, I hear you ask! Basically, it's the outline of the subject I'm drawing. I'll cover how I do this in a later post but this takes about an hour.
In Summary . . . . .
As I hinted at at the start of this post, it's difficult to give an exact figure but I hope this has helped give you an idea of how long it takes - and why it takes to long!
The Drawing Process
Unsurprisingly, this is what makes up the bulk of the time. For a single animal this can range from 16 to 24 hours without a background and 20 to 28+ hours including a background, depending on the size of the drawing, the type of fur, whether the drawing includes a collar, harness or bridle etc. Rubi's portrait above took 20 hours for instance.
When creating art with paint, you mix the colours on a palette but with coloured pencils you mix the colours on the paper. This involves putting down layers of colour and it also means you need to have some idea of how the colours are going to react. For instance, some browns are yellow based but I also use blues as a base colour to get a richer black or brown colour - you need to be careful not to end up with green!
Backgrounds
Backgrounds can add a significant amount of extra time, depending on their complexity and I'm happy to provide a quote before starting on the drawing if you would like a background. They can add between 2 hours for a simple Neopastel background on drafting film to upwards of 10 hours for a more complex background on pastelmat. The bigger the drawing, the longer the background will take.
Mounting
All my drawings are provided in a mount with a backing board, ready for framing. In addition to mounting, I provide tailored care instructions and a Certificate of Authenticity. The preparation of the mount and final paperwork takes about an hour.
I spend a lot of time checking my drawing against the reference photo, being careful to note all the subtle variations in colour. I'm also continually checking measurements against the reference photo because the line art is a useful guide, but depending on the surface I'm drawing on, it's easy to accidentally erase it while I'm working on it.
FAQs
Still have unanswered questions? This FAQ section below may address those:
Can I request a portrait by a certain date?
Of course and I will always try to accommodate requests for a special occasion. Please just bear in mind at I will always need at least 2 weeks.
Do memorial portraits take longer?
Generally no because I build enough time to allow for the additional time it may take if I'm working from lower resolutions photos for instance.
Does drawing two pets take longer than one?
Yes. I would allow double the time to draw two pets. The composition may also take longer, especially if the animals are in two separate photos. I charge 50% for each additional animal in the same drawing.
What if I only have an old photograph?
That's no problem. I've worked from poorer quality photos in the past, screenshots from social media etc - I will always try and make the drawing better than a poor quality photo.
Wondering about my current lead times?
If you're thinking about commissioning a portrait, I'd be delighted to talk this through with you and I would always recommend getting in touch as early as possible. I can then reserve a place in my diary and advise you of current lead times.
Thoughts?
I'd love to know what you thought!
If you have a minute, please submit your response below and if there are any topics you would like covered please contact me.