Ece Eris paints pastel portraits of pets

M-A sophomore Ece Eris, known as AJ, loves “anything with fur.” She’s turned that love into a pet portrait business.

“Before moving back to Turkey, my grandmother encouraged me to make sketches,” AJ says of her artistic roots. “Then a few years ago, I started working with a set of pastels my mom had.”

She’s had no formal artistic training but has studied various techniques on YouTube with a goal some someday doing hyper-realism.

AJ charges $100 per portrait, which she says take her about 10 hours to complete some times over a couple of weeks due to school commitments. “People send me a number of photographs and I pick the best or draw elements from multiple photos.”

She says posting on Next-door is a good way to build business and a quick look of her postings reveals many satisfied customers.

Interested in AJ’s services? Email pastelyourpet@outlook.com

Photos courtesy of Ece Eris