Clara and Jake with their pets Cassie and DeeDee

Clara and Jake are brother and sister as I am sure you can tell. They are pictured here with their two pet dogs, the brown dog called Cassie and the golden retriever Deedee. Their portrait drawing was commissioned by their mum as a surprise 50th birthday gift for their dad Barry. He celebrated his milestone birthday a couple of months ago and Val, his wife, wanted to gift him something a little different and very special.

pencil portrait sketch of a family with dogs — *^{Clara and Jake with Cassie and DeeDee, graphite pencil on paper, 25 x 30 cm}*

She contacted me a few weeks before the birthday and I couldn’t get it finished in time for the big day, but she was happy to let him know there is something interesting coming his way 🙂

detail view of a pencil family and pet portrait — *^{Detail of the drawing}*

Everyone, and especially the dad in question, were delighted with their finished drawing. Val emailed me when she received it and then once she gave it to her husband:

Hi Ivana,
This is lovely. Well done. The kids love it too and I’m sure Barry will love it too….Thanks for your wonderful drawing which arrived yesterday.
Barry was absolutely stunned and so happy to receive such a personal gift and there were definitely a few tears shed.
Thanks for all of your help. It’s been such an easy process and such an amazing result.
Many thanks,
Val
Val on receiving a scan and later on when gifting her husband with the portrait, Dublin, March 2024

I was so happy to hear that not only was the family happy with the portrait, but also that my client found the process easy. I have been working very hard over the past 15 years (I can’t believe it’s been so long!!) to improve my work and commission process and seems to be paying off as I have been receiving these comments more often lately.

I had a few reference photographs to work from. Val found it quite difficult to organise everyone into one shot, she had to make sure all were available and in good form. I used one in particular for the composition. I removed the background almost completely, keeping only some shading at the base of the image for context. My client mentioned DeeDee’s grumpy expression in the photo, so I used another for her head to make her look a little happier. I think Cassie stole her treat!

adding details to the pet and people portrait drawing by a portrait artist — *^{Adding detail to the almost finished drawing}*

The portrait was drawn with graphite pencils on paper in the size of 25 x 30 cm. I added a good amount of detail and it took a good few hours to complete as I had four characters to capture. I started with a detailed sketch capturing everyone’s likeness and then moved onto detailed shading. I scanned the finished drawing in house and upon client’ approval I mounted it in a neutral coloured mount. I posted it with Anpost registered post as always.