Pen & Ink portraits of dogs...

Next month, I will be attending another NCN convention, a mini-con in the Midwest this time. One of the seminars will be "Inking Caricatures" with Tom Richmond. Tom is an award-winning artist known for his humorous illustrations--which appear in magazines and advertising--but his big claim to fame is being one of the 'Usual Gang of Idiots' in MAD magazine. I've had the pleasure of meeting Tom on several occasions, and his blog is in my links list. What does this have to do with dog portraits?

Well, back in the mid-nineties, before caricatures were a gleam in my eye, I did pen and ink pet portraits. They were time-consumimng, but I enjoyed bringing pets to life. These three were my favorites. The top one, a friend's cantankerous mutt, actually won a prize in a juried art contest. The second one was a commission from the mother of a college freshman, who missed his pets dreadfully. The third was a portrait of a friend's beloved Rottweiler, now in doggie heaven.

I just may be inspired to get back to pen and inking!