Happy Holidays, everyone!

I’m posting this after Christmas to keep the spirit of surprises alive, although this was one of my final projects pre-baby. An old friend asked me to do a portrait of her son Mason and her parents’ Standard Poodle Gracie. She had a few photos of the two of them, but felt they weren’t the best…one was a good photo of the dog, and one was a good photo of her son…

We sat down for a pow-wow and looked through the photos together, as well as some supplementary images. This was the one that she loved of Mason, but she felt that Gracie looked a little doleful. Typically this poodle is perkier in the ears and generally more upbeat.

This photo here was a better representation of Gracie’s personality; her ears are up and her coiffure is fluffy:

In the end, we decided to use the original photo of Mason and Gracie, but with some edits. I fluffed up her ears, and darkened her pupils so that it didn’t look like she was shooting laser beams from her eyes. In the final portrait drawing, I think Gracie looks more mischievous that forlorn:

I didn’t want to overdo the ears. But, I think it works, and my friend is happy with it. I hope her parents love this portrait of their grandkid and puppy-child. I had a lot of fun doing it.

Happy Holidays, friends! Best of wishes from my family to yours.

xo Melody