Portrait

Portrait and pet work is about keeping a face. Getting a likeness is not the whole of it; most of the job is deciding together what it is about that face you want to remember.

A face only has to be slightly off to become someone else. It is the subject I spend the most time on at the design stage.

Likeness comes from where the features sit. The distance between the eyes, and between the nose and the mouth, is what makes the impression.

Most portraits are done in black and grey. Without colour there is still plenty of depth and expression.

With pets it is the direction of the fur and the eyes that carry the likeness. Several photographs help.

Where you can, send photographs that are close to front-on, in focus, and taken in good light.

Detail clogs up if it goes in small. A design with a face in it is better given enough size.

The area is wide and the work is long, so depending on size it may be split across sittings.

Many people come to keep a pet they have lost. In those cases I do not rush, and redraw the design as often as it needs.

Please judge the work by photographs taken after healing rather than straight after the session.

I work by appointment only, in a private studio in Hongdae. Send your photographs through the enquiry form first.