Drawing my dog, Charlie

I felt like writing this little blog post just to express how I felt doing a portrait of my own dog Charlie, because it's such an unique experience.

In terms of drawing, there was nothing particularly different about drawing Charlie compared to drawing any other pet, I worked on the artwork the same way using the same coloured pencil techniques I would do for any other pet. The things that were different was how I felt about it.

The main challenge I had was the self imposed pressure I put on myself, because after doing so many portrait of other pet and many artworks of other subjects I knew that I could do it, but with every piece I still get the overwhelming sense of "I hope I can manage it", "I hope I don't mess this up" and with it being my beloved Charlie it felt that more strongly and let's be honest it would be awfully embarrassing if the one thing I couldn't draw was my own dog. Another challenge I had was the fact I would compare my artwork to him which was not helpful especially since I started comparing my artwork to him when it was only 1/4 done, so of course it didn't look like him which would lead me to doubt myself and put more pressure on myself which would lead to me comparing my artwork, which was quite a challenge to rise above. Also doesn't help that I decided to do this portrait of Charlie as a gift for my dad so I had more self imposed pressure to get this right. So basically my biggest challenge was to rise above my own self imposed pressure.

But despite its challenges it was rewarding, just to finally do a portrait of Charlie because I had always wanted to do one for years, it gave me such a sense of achievement to do a portrait of Charlie especially since it came out looking amazing I feel proud I overcame my self imposed pressure and anxiety to achieve such an amazing piece (even if I do say so myself). It was also an amazing feeling to experience the joy of having a portrait done of Charlie, and hopefully the joy I felt is also the joy I give other people when I do a portrait of their own pet.

So what do you think of my portrait of Charlie? I hope you enjoyed this little read about my feelings of doing a portrait of Charlie. My dad was really pleased with his gift