This is a custom portrait of Henry, a very regal boxer dog in pen and watercolor, drawn on A4-size watercolor paper. I was approached by Henry’s owner through Twitter where I post both my daily sketches and my custom commission work as well as progress photo’s as I’m working on them. Henry’s owner wanted to commission a portrait of her dog to use as a holiday gift. I’m happy to help out with these kind of things, and it was a great pleasure to put Henry’s distinguished face down on paper!

I started by lightly sketching the composition and the basic shapes and forms in pencil – I then continued on to drawing more detailed with a black ink pen, while gradually removing the graphite from the pencil. When i was happy with the drawing, I started to add the watercolor on top to bring out some of the different tones of color that are present in the fur. In Henry’s coat I see both blue, purple, red and brown tones, along with contrasts in black and white. For the background, I opted for a bright green with elements of blue and yellow as well as some light indication of grass in the immediate foreground without being too concrete about it. I think that this background helps the portrait come alive, and almost seems to make Henry’s face peek out from the frame.

If you like this portrait, you should come see some of my other dog portraits too, like my custom portrait of Baci the dog, my pen drawings of Rocky and Honey or these four pen portraits of dogs  and lastly my pen and watercolor portrait of Liberty the Labrador retriever

A custom pet portrait is a great gift idea for an animal lover. You can read more about my pricing at my “Pricing and commissions” page where you can also get in touch with me.

Hi Thomas it's great - Fantastic likeness of Henry!! 
Many thanks!💕😀👍! I am well pleased. 
Thank you so much for bringing Henry to life for me. 
- Arlene, Henry's owner"