Figurines of Pets: Pet Portrait as a Paper Sculpture
You can have a portrait of your pet made by me as a paper figure and immortalize your pet in this way. The pet sculpture is made by hand from papier-mâché. This creates realistic pet sculptures.
The colored surface of the pet figurine is a collage of newspaper and magazine clippings. This means that the pet portrait figures are not painted. Only the wooden pedestal is painted on request.
Requirements for the pet portrait as a figurine
First of all, it doesn't matter whether you want a pet portrait of your cat or another pet. However, I need photos of the pet to be portrayed in order to be able to create a figurine of your pet. If you have the opportunity to take photos of your pet, please take the photos in the posture in which you would like the animal to be portrayed. Ideally, please take the photos from all sides:
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From the front
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Three-quarter view (oblique from the front)
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From the left profile (i.e. from the left side)
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From the right profile (i.e. from the right side)
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From behind
It would also be good if you could take photos of different postures of your pet so that I can get a better idea of the proportions. If the animal can no longer be photographed, but you have old photos of your pet, please select the photos so that the pet can be seen from different angles. If possible, these photos should all be from the same time period. But even if you only have a small number of photos of your pet, I can still take a portrait. However, I then have to use my imagination to recreate parts of the animal that are not shown in the photos.
Surface of the pet's figure
You decide in which posture your pet should be portrayed three-dimensionally; whether it should be sitting, standing, lying or perhaps walking.
If it's an animal with long hair, I can also make the hair out of paper. With short hair, however, I find it more suitable to make the surface of the figure smooth.
Depending on your preference, the surface can either be covered with colored newspaper and/or magazine clippings or left in its natural state, i.e. with a newsprint look.
Production process of the figurine of your pet
The pet sculptures are made using the papier-mâché technique, whereby I only use the so-called “lamination technique”. The sculptures are created layer by layer around a stuffed wire frame or cardboard. The applied layers of paper, which consist of newspaper and paste, become a hard and partially smooth surface, especially when I sand the figure during a later processing step.
Sometimes I use clay drawing paper to reproduce the animal's hair and parchment paper or sandwich paper for the eyes and teeth. However, the sculptures themselves are mainly made of recycled paper and cardboard. I use transparent acrylic varnish as a finish.
Order for the portrait of your pet
An order should be planned well in advance, because the production of a portrait of a pet takes at least three weeks, taking into account all work phases - depending on the size and complexity. The duration also depends on how busy I am.
On request, I can show you the sculpture before it is finally varnished with clear varnish. This gives you the opportunity to suggest minimal changes. After varnishing, it is no longer possible to make changes to the pet figurine.
Contact with me
Before you contact me, you can already think about how you would answer the following questions:
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In what posture should the pet be portrayed?
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In relation to what age should the pet be recreated?
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Should the pet figure be pasted over in color or left with the newspaper look?
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In what size should the pet sculpture be made?
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What type of wood should the figure's pedestal be made of and what color should the wood be painted, or should it be left natural?
If you would like to know how much it would cost to have a portrait figurine made of your pet, please contact me via email: papier@milavazquezotero.com