Jul 18, 20215 min read

Pawfect Prints with Naomi Eve Illustrates

Digital Doggy Art Work

In this blog, we want to bring you something creative and fun and talk about digital pet portrait art. It’s the art that’s taken the internet by storm. And for a very good reason, it makes pet owners and animal lovers very happy and it looks super cool on your walls.

We caught up with It’s a Dog’s life old team member Naomi, who has spent her lockdown most creatively and positively by creating these beautiful digital dog portraits. Her artwork has become so popular it’s now a flourishing business for her. And here at It’s a Dog’s Life love promoting local business, especially the business of one of our own family.

Naomi Eve Illustrates creates a complete custom hand-drawn portrait available in all different sizes. You can even have your pooches mug on a mug!! Naomi does prints with or without frames, she even offers a custom portrait of you and your best friend. Offering something for everyone.

Pawcasso

This isn’t just about having a purrfect print of your pet, for Naomi, it’s about communicating with her customers and giving them a print memory to keep and proudly display in their homes. Because us proud doggo parents love nothing more than having our pawfect pals on display.

Naomi’s love for her own dog Laika is the running force behind her work, her knowledge of dogs and the different doggo personalities she had encountered during her time with us, gives her artwork a deeper understanding and captures each individual dog’s personality through the eyes (The eyes chico, they never lie) which is what makes her pet prints stand out from the rest.

Every print tells us a story of each animal, we wanted to hear Naomi’s story behind the prints and starting her new business during the lockdown.

Firstly, to those who may not know you already can you introduce yourself and tell us about your background with us?

My name is Naomi, and I’m the very proud owner of a new small business called Naomi Eve Illustrates! I’ve always loved art and after my art a-level, I really wanted to pursue a career in the design field. My life changed however after I got my dog Laika, who I had been dreaming of for almost 18 years! When I would walk her, I started to meet other people from the dog community where I live and I met Anna the owner of It’s a Dog’s life. I’ve always loved dogs, so when I found out she was hiring a full-time dog walker I couldn’t believe my luck! This was the dream job. I got to spend my days walking the cutest pooches, and my night’s dog sitting and having the sweetest cuddles.

This job gave me such an incredible opportunity and I learned a lot about dogs and training them! After around 3 years I felt like it was time for me to try something new, and I got a job in hospitality which I am currently still working.

What inspired you to create Naomi Eve Illustrates?

Like most people, this pandemic really halted my life, and working in hospitality just wasn't possible. The first few months I was really at a dead end and felt confused and scared, but the one thing I found peace and joy in was drawing, and mainly drawing my dog Laika.

I stayed with my parents throughout the pandemic and found my old iPad that had been collecting dust since school. I started playing around with it, and found an app called procreate; which at first I was just messing around with creating funny little drawings of things I found online.

I then thought how cool it would be to try and draw a picture that I had previously drew of Laika on paper and see how that would transfer to a digital image. I look back now and see how awful it was, but at the time I thought it was the coolest thing, and started trying a couple of other dog pictures I had from my years of being a dog walker. This continued for a couple of months, and I watched skillshare videos for hours about using procreate and how to make digital illustrations. I also invested in a new iPad and an Apple pencil to get more precision and accuracy. Then my friend's birthday came up and I wanted to give her a really unique present, so I got a picture of her dog and drew it. I then used my iPad and created a digital illustration of her with her name written underneath. I sent this to her and she was so happy. After posting this on my Instagram the response I got was incredible and I had lots of people asking me to try and draw their dogs. So I started drawing dogs in my local dog community and I got the most amazing response from everyone. This gave me the idea to start a business of drawing people’s pets, to give them a unique and lifelong print for them to keep in their homes. After a month of working out the logistics I decided to start Naomi Eve Illustrates, I tried lots of different branding, then found the logo that made me the most excited and I started posting my work on Instagram. It was so cool seeing people react to the images I drew, and how happy and proud it made them of their pet. The best feeling I had, was drawing an image of my friend’s dog who had passed away earlier this year, and her reaction was so heartwarming and made the hours of work so worth it.

Can you tell us about your creative process?

When I start drawing I try and make sure I have at least 3 pictures of the pet so I can try and figure out the personality, even if I haven’t met them! I start by creating a simple line drawing, always focusing on the eyes first, I think they're the most important part of seeing into the dog's soul and personality. I then scan the picture onto my iPad using the photo as a reference and then start the process of colour matching.

I like to make sure I always communicate with the customer and I am always open to making changes if something doesn't look right.

I'm currently using a printing service called Print Work, just because they use 100% recycled paper and the quality is incredible.

What does the future look like Naomi Eve Illustrates?

In the future, I would love to have my own high-quality A3 printer, so I could do everything myself. I would also love to expand my business space and give my parents a break from using their home as a stock room. But mainly I just want to create more prints and give people memories of their pets they can keep forever.

And lastly, if you could describe yourself as doggo, which breed would you be?

If I was a dog breed, I would have to say a Rottweiler. They are extremely loyal, loving, and protective of those they love. But also can be crazy, and super goofy.

Thank you

A big thank you to Naomi for sharing her story with us. We are here to support you in your new business adventure.

And if you would like Naomi to create a digital print of your pooch!! She is kindly giving It's a Dog's Life clients a discount when they use ITSADOGSLIFE20 at checkout. All links to Naomi's website and social media are below. Please check out her work and keep supporting local businesses.