What I Learned About My Cat from the Artist Who Painted Him

It may seem like a small detail, but I am so thankful for how much she knew about my cat. For example, she said that he is grey and black with white paws and tail. She also mentioned that he is an American shorthair breed, which I didn't know before. She even got his age right! The artist could've just used this information as "filler" while they waited for me to give them more details about my cat (which was actually the case in some of the other drawings), but they took what they had and made something beautiful out of it.

This made me realize how much time artists put into their work—I never realized how many hours go into creating something like this until now!

But I know he is a little bit fat.

The artist does not see your cat. They work from a photo or description and may ask you questions to clarify if there is something they don't understand.

If you say that your cat is "a little bit fat," the artist might use that description when painting the animal, but they might also choose to paint it thinner than it actually is (or vice versa).

You can tell an artist how much extra weight you want on your pet—but be aware that this will affect the way their body looks in proportion with their face and legs as well as their overall size in relation to other objects depicted in a composition.

The artist made a painting of him and I told them how much I love him.

The artist painted a beautiful portrait of my cat and I. I told the artist how much I love my cat, and they painted him really fat. It looks kind of like my cat, but it was clearly not intended to be an accurate representation of him; this is something that could only have been achieved through careful observation and interpretation.

I don't know if there's any real correlation between telling an artist that you love your pet and them painting them as obese, but I'm going to consider it for now. In fact, I think this might work for any animal-related art form! If you tell an artist that you really enjoy insects or reptiles or other animals in general, maybe they will paint your favorite one with six legs instead of four!

So they made the painting of my cat really fat.

So, our cat is fat. He's not just a little overweight, he's what you might call a fat cat.

I could have told that to the artist when she came over to take his measurements to make sure his proportions were right for the painting, but I didn't. I was nervous about putting too much weight on the artist and their work by saying something like "Hey, my cat is pretty big."

Instead I said nothing: I didn't want to risk them making him look even fatter than he already did in real life. But now that the painting has been completed, it made me wonder: Does telling an artist how much your subject weighs affect how they portray it?

It is not that bad because it looks kind of like my cat.

While I was waiting for my portrait, I wondered if you could tell me what your process is? How do you decide which colors to use and where to place the lines and shading?

What I got back was this:

You're right! It's not so bad. I think it would have been even better if the cat looked more like the original picture than this one does but that's just something we'll never know. The good news is he seems healthy and happy in the photo so maybe that's all that matters?

Liking something does not mean you should make it look bigger in a painting.

The artist who painted your cat knows that you love him, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he should make your pet look bigger in the painting. What you think will be a flattering portrait of your furry friend may end up being a cartoonish caricature or something else entirely.

The artist is not an exact mind reader (although I hear he has been working on his telepathic powers), so it is important for you to be specific about what you want depicted in the work of art. You don’t have to speak in sentences like “I want my cat to look like a fox with blue eyes and no pupils”—this can sound confusing when translated into visual terms—but do make sure that the finished product will resemble what you envision when asked if they can paint, “My cat looks like all cats look: large ears, small nose, long tail…and white feet!”

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