Tiny Eyeballs Are Hard to Define

I’ve been painting custom pet portraits since 2012. I used to watercolor, pastels, and pen and ink since I can remember. But the iPad reignited my interest in art and digital painting made it so much neater, cleaner, and easier to send the final portrait because it’s all done virtually. The holiday season typically increases my workload and I get a variety of requests. The portrait subjects come in a variety of breeds, full body and close up head shots. The final images can be printed up to about 18x24 inches. But that doesn’t mean they should be - depending on the orientation and size of the subject. So I pretty much completed a full body painting when a customer requested that I sharpen the eyes. I had a feeling she wanted to make a large stretched canvas and I was right. I tried to explain that it’s very difficult to be precise when working on very tiny parts - like the eyeballs that are barely one eighth of an inch. Larger head shots require that level of detail. I think she was convinced once I explained it. Nevertheless I tried to make it look as best as I could. Anytime you blow up a picture or painting the pixels get spread and the program I use to paint can only go so far. I like to think my artwork looks like a painting and needs to be viewed from a distance rather than up close. I think she likes my work because she’s requested three portraits in all. I really appreciate my customers - especially when they understand the constraints.