Thomas mahon

2 min read

The concept artist gives us an insight on the portraits of pets and people from his collection of digital sketches

**CAT NAPS** “I quite like the composition and how the shapes flow into each other. The pets’ owner was happy with my initial version, but requested a more interesting background, so I made this colourful little window. It really pulls the composition together.”

**DAPPLED LIGHT** “Here I’ve gone for something more expressive with chunky brushstrokes, so it’s a bit more blocky. The dappled light was super fun to paint. The pose was pretty close to the reference, but I love the more extreme angle.”

**AMBROSE** “This is our cat Ambrose; he’s magnificent. He’s actually just a tabby as far as we know, but everyone asks if he’s a Maine coon. I’m quite happy with the lighting here. I was trying to build up my local colours and lighting separately, but eventually they sort of merged into one thing.”

**A FAVOURITE** “I was commissioned to paint someone’s father, and was given permission to publish it here. It’s one of my favourite portraits I’ve made. I try not to overwork my paintings, and I’m very happy with the brush economy used in the piece.”

**HONEY** “I purposefully kept the cast shadows across the side really sharp to contrast with the soft fur. People generally think contrast only applies to lighting, but there are many different kinds. If you want something to look really soft, it’s better to surround that with harsher and sharper edges. I definitely recommend Richard Schmid’s artbook Alla Prima for anything involving edges.”

**ANGI** “This is my partner Angi. She’s also magnificent. I took the photo this is based on. It wa

This article is from...

Imagine FX Magazine

16 January 2024

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