Our family suffered a great loss recently. Roosevelt, our 15-year-old Maine Coon, passed earlier this week. He was, without a doubt, my dearest furbaby, and he touched all of our hearts like no other pet had. Difficult as it was, I decided to surprise my parents with a pen & marker portrait of our boy. The process eventually grew to be therapeutic, and I am proud to have successfully captured his essence (the eyes, in particular, were heavily worked on as they needed to be p-e-r-f-e-c-t). Read on for WIP shots and a photo of our beautiful & beloved ‘gentle giant’.

The sketch, which looked more like he did as a wide-eyed kitten, to be honest.

Lineart and pale base.

Adding to the pale colours stroke by stroke, and giving more life to the eyes.

Just before adding the final touches and white gel pen highlights. Finally able to appreciate the drawing as ‘Roosevelt’.

Photo by me from a couple of years ago. Our big goober, bright-eyed and full of love. RIP, my love.