I felt moved to draw an original pet portrait of Charlie the dog as a gift for my friend friend who had a long-haired wiener dog named Charlie who sadly passed away in February of 2025, almost a year ago now.
My friends Chad and Chelsea who own and operate C. Scenic, an AMAZINGLY creative fabrication shop here in Dallas, gave me two really nice photos of him that I could work from. What’s funny is that I picked the front-on Charlie “head” shot to use and worked on it off and on for a few months. When I started working on it again, I went back and realized that I really liked the other angle maybe even better. It was a left side view, which is how you saw him most of the time.
So, I started working on a second version because it spoke to me as well. I decided to show both Chad and Chelsea the two different illustrations and they absolutely LOVED them and said he will probably get very emotional when he sees them. I told her my dilemma that I can’t choose which one would be the best one. Chelsea suggested that I use both and put the left angle image on the left with the straight on head shot on the right. Now we’re talking! It will be perfect and shows both angles of little Charlie, truly capturing his sprit while he was here with us.
I heard stories about when he was younger that Chad would build up these giant piles of leaves and then let Tim know they were ready. Charlie would then literally BULLET THROUGH each pile of leaves leaving little tunnel! He’d hang out in each one until he was ready to move on to the next one until every pile had been “charlie’d”. I can only imagine how hilarious it was to watch and even more fun it was for him to be little dog enjoying life so much as an animal, to its fullest.
Here are the initial sketches which the final graphite illustration will be wrapped up any day now:
Over the years, I have seen that each pet portrait I have created for my clients have resonated with the spirit of the animal I have attempted to draw. Most of the time, I never get to meet the animal in person, just through a photograph. It is even better when I got to know them and be with them. Chaos the Cat was a great example of getting the chance to meet him and pet him in person.
If you or someone you know is interested in a custom pet portrait, feel free to contact me to discuss your idea and let’s MAKE IT HAPPEN!
