MIHIR LELE
COMMISSIONED PET PORTRAITS
Illustrations | Art Direction
This series of commissioned pet artworks began as a small personal experiment and grew into a heartfelt body of work shaped by stories, memories, and trust.
Each piece was created by first collecting photographs of the pet or a shared moment between the pet and their parent, and then translating that reference into an illustration style chosen by the client — ranging from caricature and realistic portraits to graphic and stylized interpretations.
Working across multiple visual styles allowed each artwork to reflect not just how the pet looked, but how they were remembered and loved. These commissions were less about creating standard portraits and more about capturing personality, emotion, and the bond between pets and their people.
"The portrait is for her 17th birthday"
"Possible to make something where she’s on the chair. And he’s on his guitar on the sofa. And somewhere I can be reading a book. That’s how we end up most times"
"Like Val has 3 main loves in life - animals, books and gaming- while gaming Isa is on her lap. She loves reading while all babies are there- all 6!"
"Portraits of Girish and me holding each one and Ellie on our shoulders. Us with all three cats. And it needs to say "You, me and kittus".
"So maybe an illustration with Bella and Magu on both sides and Kittu in the middle- Bella can wear a Red Bull jersey, Magu can wear a ManU jersey and Kittu can wear a F1 racing jersey"
"This is the first time my dog met my wife. Can we do something with this?"
"It was her favourite thing in the world- lounging in the sun"
"I want it to be her and her dad - he passed away. Will you do without any pet in it? I guess when I visualise him, I see a white haired man with a stethoscope around his neck with whiskey and smoke in his hand, and somehow eating meat and listening to Pink Floyd."