I was approached by someone who wanted to commission a group pet portraits of three cats, that she would use as a holiday gift. The client provided me with some different photos of the three cats, that I used as a basis for the portrait. When the client is offering the artwork as a present, or in this case a holiday gift, it’s not always a given that a lot of reference photos will be available. Luckily, it’s possible to modify a lot of details in drawing and painting the piece as opposed to what would be possible for a photographer. In this case, I combined three photos in to a composition with the three cats as it is seen above. The cat to the left is a combination of two photos – one where the eyes are slightly closed, and another one where the cat has his eyes closed, but a paw in front of his nose!

If you’re interested in discussing me making a custom group portraits of your pets, don’t hesitate to contact me.

After planning out the composition and getting all reference photos ready, I started making the underlying drawing. First a rough sketch in pencil, then a more detailed drawing in black pen, where after the pencil was erased. I then continued to paint the watercolor. The three cats are fairly similar in color, but in the black and gray fur, I also see hues of red and blue. I picked a light green background that goes well with their eyes.

If you liked this portrait, please come and see this double portrait of two cats or this group portrait of three cats,  or see my other work in my gallery