Below you will find much information and a lot of pictures to help you see how pet portraits and wildlife paintings are created.
You can also get tips on taking photos of your pet and get lots of ideas of the possibilities you have by commissioning me to do your pet's portrait.  I hope you enjoy and feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Portrait of Shelby the Labrador Retriever

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Alex - Himalayan Cat Portrait

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Niki - Yorkie Mix Dog Portrait

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Little Guy - Black Bear Cub Pastel Painting

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Tips on Photographing your Pet

Outdoor light coming from the side makes for the best
 reference photos. Have one person hold dog by collar to keep them stationary while you take the picture.
 Get down at the dog's level rather than looking down at them. Use treats, toys, favorite words, etc. to get the attitude you want. With today's digital photography you can keep trying til you get what you want.

Zoe - Basset Hound Portrait

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Maltese Portrait

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Another option for smaller dogs or cats is to hold the pet in your arms while another person does the photography. This works well for nervous animals or ones that just won't hold still.

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Another option if your dog enjoys going for car rides is to let them sit in your car or truck and photograph them looking out. This is often a good way to get an alert and happy look.

Boone - Labrador Retriever Portrait

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Ty and Taz Two Subject Portrait

If you would like more than one pet in the portrait, take them one at a time to the same place and photograph them separately. This way the lighting will be the same on both pets.

One of a Kind Portraits
Add Scenery, Multiple Pets

Ike - "I Like it Hot" Morgan Horse Portrait

Reference photo for Ike Portrait

Body Reference for Ike Portrait

Head Shot Reference for Ike Portrait

Above you can see some of the possibilities of commissioning an artist to paint your animal's portrait. Ike was winter clipped when I took the photos to use for this painting. I used two of the photos to compose his head and body, put him in a summer coat and eliminated the halter. The client wanted a Northwoods lake background, so I chose this photo of a local lake to use in the painting.

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Lucky - Portrait of a Malamute Mix

Lucky was my first internet commission from a Canadian couple that had recently lost him. We had many email discussions choosing just the right photos to capture Lucky's personality and color. They had always loved walking in the winter with him at a favorite spot but had no photos of him there. It happened to be winter when they placed the order and I had them go take some photos of that favorite place to use in the painting. Lucky had a great story with him and he obviously had a terrific life with his people and it was a joy working with them.

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Family Pets - Past and Present

This client wanted a large portrait to display above their hearth with all of the dogs their family had over the years. This was a challenge since several of the dogs had already passed away and the available photos were very poor.

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Nell - Painting of a Chocolate Labrador Retriever

Reference photo used in Painting Nell

Reference Photo for Painting Nell

The portrait above was commissioned by my client as a surprise gift for her husband.
 She couldn't decide between the two poses so I did them both.

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Buddies - Portrait of Yellow Lab and Brittany Spaniel

Reference Photo for Buddies

Reference Photo for Buddies

This painting was composed to use in my booth at art shows. Each reference photo was of a previous client's dog separated by several years. I put them both in the same painting and then added a background to round out the portrait.

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Rudy - Painting of a Labradoodle

Reference Photo for Rudy

Rudy ended up being the subject of two portraits.
I was commissioned to do a sporting type painting as a gift
for my client's husband, but then they decided the daughter
that was heading off to college needed a portrait
of Rudy for her dorm room and this was her 
favorite photo of Rudy.
She wanted to have an outdoor setting

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Cattail Scene added to Golden Retriever Portrait

You can select any kind of background for your
pet portrait.
Both this Golden Retriever and the Yellow Lab below
had a cattail swamp scene added from reference that I found from a google search for "cattail swamp"

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Cattail Scene added to Portrait of Labrador Retriever

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Velvet - Painting of Thoroughbred Horse

This was one of the more challenging portraits I've done. Velvet was a retired thoroughbred and this portrait was commissioned as a surprise gift by a client that lived all the way across the country. These photos were secretly lifted from a Photo Bucket post to use to create this painting. Not only was Velvet in a scruffy winter coat, the photos were definitely "less than stellar". The surprise was worth the difficulty.

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Thank you for visiting the Christman Pet Portrait and Wildlife Art Website.
All artwork Copyright Cynthia Christman and may not be copied or reproduced without Written Permission.