An Unexpected Career Side-Expedition
Apparently I have a knack for Pet Portraits.
A long time ago in another life my ex always said I should do these kinds of things. She’d say, “Look at all these people making an income at this, and some of them are tacky as hell! You should do this!”
I never really took it seriously and just laughed it off as either a mildly intriguing notion or something to set on a back burner…a really far back burner. I was always either focusing on creepy art, or steampunk stuff, or my band as far as creative endeavors go.
Fast forward about seven years.
Last year—mid-November I think—my father-in-law, Jerry, mentioned to my wife that what he wanted for Christmas was a picture of his dog, Max. Max is a senior dog, about 12 years old. He’s a sweet boy, but his health is deteriorating and you can see as he moves about that things aren’t working like they used to. Jerry knew that time was getting close, and he wanted something of his buddy to remember. I was really flattered that he would ask and attacked the task with serious dedication.
I treated it like a client project, setting up folders on my computer and scheduling time to work alongside other projects. It went really fast too; I had it completely finished from start to finish in 48-hours. I very happy with the outcome.
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Jerry loved it and seemed genuinely touched by it. That meant a lot to me, both as his son-in-law and as an artist/illustrator. What artist doesn’t get high on that like crack?
After Christmas we’re at dinner one day and my mother-in-law mentions a dog they had some years ago that she felt was her buddy, like Max is to Jerry. Jerry offhandedly says, “You ought to have Ian do one like Max.” I chimed in that I’d be happy to do it and within a week I had a second piece for them. This one also went really fast and turned pretty out well, I thought. Maybe this is a viable little experiment!
I recently completed portraits of my three dogs. Mainly these were continuations of the experimentation process. Is the workflow repeatable? Are results comparable? How can I develop techniques? So far, I’m pretty psyched by it. I feel like a good process is coalescing and I’m zeroing in on what I’d like to do with this to keep it “in my style.” I can see processes and techniques I’ve already improved upon. I suppose if nothing else it’s a hell of a drawing/painting exercise.
Clockwise from top left: Max, Bucky, Bobo, Darwin.
Even though I truly gravitate towards sci-fi + fantasy + horror + weird + goth kind of work, I’m also passionate about dogs. I’m an experienced dog trainer and CGC evaluator, and I also own a dog training school. I freaking LOVE dogs. Somehow, this feels like it fits for me. I’ve got a few more pieces in the pipe to really get my feet wet with it before I solicit commissions, but I’m optimistic. Wish me luck! And of course, if you have any comments, critiques, advice, or what-have-you, lay it on me.
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