We Chat With Pet Portrait Artist Thomas Dalsgaard Clausen

Pet portraits and artists are prevalent online, but rarely will you find someone who captures the essence of the animals he draws like Danish artist Thomas Dalsgaard Clausen. We caught up with this remarkable man for a chat about his artwork.

Catster: Tell us something about yourself.

Thomas Dalsgaard Clausen: I'm from Denmark, where I finished my studies to become an architect. In architecture, sketching and quickly being able to illustrate and visually explain ideas is important, and that is why I decided to improve my sketching by committing to creating at least one drawing per day, and in doing so, my skills have improved a lot over the past years.

Although it was all about sketching architecture to begin with, I quickly discovered that I really like drawing and painting portraits of people and animals. What began as a commitment to improve has now turned into an obsession.

During my studies in architecture school I participated in a few workshops about perspective and figure drawing, but I wouldn't go as far to say that I'm professionally trained -- I mostly learn from trial and error and from observation.

I committed to creating one drawing daily for a few years. When I passed the one year mark I had made more than 700 sketches. I've also taken requests from people mostly via Twitter and Facebook, and I have drawn people's pets for free almost daily. I started doing proper cat and dog portraits in pen and watercolor too.

Why do you specialize in animal portraits? Do you paint other subjects?

I also draw urban scenes, objects, houses, and landscapes, but what I enjoy the most is to draw living things. There's something magical about the forms and shapes that can be found in nature, and I really love that moment when the idle lines of a piece of paper suddenly turn into a face that stares back at you. Cats and dogs express so much emotion, and it's quite a challenge to capture their essence and bring their personality alive on paper.

Do you have your pets? If so, do they inspire you?

I actually don't! I did when I was younger and lived with my parents where we had almost all kinds of animals one could imagine in an ordinary household. I even had a pet hen that followed me around in the garden. These days, however, I spend most of my time out of the house, and my wife and I like to go travel as often as we can afford it, so we don't feel we can offer the ideal conditions for a four-legged addition to our family. My mom still has a lot of animals (dogs, cats, canaries, chickens, and goldfish), and I've drawn a few of them.

What do you do when you're not creating?

Sometimes I can't even find the time to draw every day. I'm really into foreign languages, and I've spent a lot of time learning French for a couple of years. Later I moved on to Arabic, but regrettably, I haven't studied much recently. I also love traveling, taking photos, and eating delicious food from around the world.

Who are your favorite painters, and who or what inspires you?

I'm a big fan of Rembrandt. I love his expressive portraits where he always seems to break the rules when it comes to light and shadow, but I also really enjoy his sketches. Here is a sketch of a lion by him. I admire an artist who can swiftly capture the essentials with just a few quick lines and still have the sketches "speak" and express a lot. This is something that I constantly try to get better at through my daily sketches.

What's your favorite piece of work that you have created?

It's really difficult to pick a favorite. For each drawing I finish, I sort of move on and forget all about it, and after having done hundreds of drawings and sketches, it's just impossible for me to decide. But I'll try anyway!

This is a commissioned portrait I did of a cat called Benji that I was really happy about. I think that this cat turned out really "alive" with its playful, engaging eyes and its fluffy, pettable fur.

Out of my free sketches, this is one I'm really happy with.

What are you working on at the moment?

My free sketches are an everyday thing. I have a lot of pending requests in my inbox and feel a little bad about acknowledging that I can't draw them all and that most of them will just be ditched. I usually delete requests that I haven't picked randomly after two weeks, so new requests can get a chance.

In terms of my proper pet paintings, I have a two-cat portrait coming up that I really look forward to starting. The same client is collecting photos of all of her eight cats that she'd like me to do a group portrait of later. That'll be fun.

Do you have any tips or inspiring words for budding artists?

Lots! But most of them are clichés, like "You can do anything if you set your mind to it." You hear this kind of statement very often, but I only understood what it meant when I experienced it myself. I started drawing every day a little over a year ago, and during that year I have gone from being really unhappy about my own artistic abilities to actually selling my art.

Other than that, I think what many artists tend to neglect is their online presence. I got almost all of my clients through social media so far, and also, the motivation and critique from other artists out there is just invaluable.

Tell us about your daily drawing competition where people can get a free sketch done of their pets.

I used to spend a lot of time searching for reference photos to draw, but after drawing a few wildlife photos, pet bloggers started kindly asking me to draw their pets. I gladly accepted, and they often in turn featured my drawing on their blogs. This rapidly evolved, and I quickly had a lot of photos waiting to be drawn. This is where it dawned on me that it would be much easier to have people send me photos than go out and search for them myself, as well as asking for the photographer´s permission. Drawing people's photos is a great challenge, and I also get to make a lot of pet owners happy. Many people have printed and framed their free sketches of their pets, but I've also had a few people inquire about a proper portrait commission after seeing the sketch that I did for them.

Is there anything else you would like to mention?

Thanks to everyone who has commented on my blog and on my social media accounts since I started my daily drawings. It's the support, suggestions, and encouragement of all of these people who have motivated me to keep going, and it's because of these people that I'm selling my art today.

You can visit Thomas' website and like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

About the Author: Barbarella Buchner -- Ailurophile. Geeky Goth Girl. Ex-Musician Singer/Songwriter. Photographer. Web Designer. Fibromyalgia + RA Sufferer. And totally mad. She originally hails from Hannover (Germany), then moved to London, and since 2004 has lived on the tropical island of Lanzarote, together with her tabby twins Lugosi & Spider, and ginger queen Ruby Akasha. Apart from being an avid hobby -- and sometimes even paid. -- photographer, she works as a freelance web and graphic designer and occasional Catster / Dogster contributor.