My client will email me several photos of their pet. I will choose the best pose for the portrait. I will enlarge the photo to the necessary size and then create a pattern. I overlay the portrait with tracing paper and determine the size and shape of each piece. Each piece of the pattern is then numbered and color coded.
Now I enjoy the best part, picking the color and texture of the paper! I turn the pattern over in order to make the pattern pieces in reverse. I slip a piece of carbon paper between the pattern and the paper and trace the lines of the pattern with a stylus, a pointed tip tool that looks like a pencil.
I cut out the pattern pieces with an exacto knife or scissors. I use colored pencils to draw the details of the eyes and teeth. Now sculpting begins. Scoring the paper with an exacto knife, bending and curving the paper with various tools, the paper comes to life!
The finished pieces are laid over the original photo, so that they can be glued in the correct position. Spacers in between layers to create the 3D effect.
The dimensional matting and shadow box frame invite the viewer to take a closer look as the pet pops out towards them.