Useful tips for pet portrait painting

Transferring your sketches

To get the best out of any pet portrait it is a good idea to do preliminary sketches, this helps finalise the composition as well as making sure all the details are correct in the final painting.

Sometimes though, especially if you intend to make use of the coloured ground, you may not always want the drawing to show through the layers. Transferring your sketch to the canvas can be done using a grid system, but this means your canvas ends up being covered with a lot of squares as well as the outline you need.

You can avoid having all those squares by using another way to transfer the drawing. Prepare a sketch (done actual size on cartridge paper) by rubbing charcoal into the reverse, paying particular attention to areas with the most detail. This is then carefully laid onto the canvas, secured in position using masking tape to stop it moving (otherwise you'll get excessive charcoal on the surface of the canvas). You can then trace the image onto the canvas. Use a ball point pen or something similar, so you can press quite firmly and also see where you've been (you need to make sure you've copied all the details before you remove the paper - it's very difficult to put it back in the same position if you've missed a bit!). Once completed, any marks you don't want on the canvas can be brushed away with a soft brush or damp cloth. When you're satisfied with the drawing, spray it with fixative (or odour free hairspray) to fix the surface.