Artist finds pets doggone good subjects

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Artist finds pets doggone good subjects
'Good-natured, not fussy, and they are never in a bad mood,' caricaturist Brian Nutt says.

Sonia Chopra | Special to the Sentinel
Posted December 4, 2005
Brian Nutt used to draw caricatures of people. Then he found a clientele that didn't complain so much -- pets.

"When you do portraits of people, They ask, 'Is my nose really that big?' or 'Are my eyes really that far apart?' " Nutt, 32, said

In his Pets Ink studio, the Orlando artist now creates clever likenesses of people's pets from the photos they give him.

"I have never had a dog ask me why a portrait came out the way it did. They are good-natured, not fussy, and they are never in a bad mood," he said, grinning.With his military-style haircut and casual demeanor, Nutt could easily be taken for a college student.

But he is a professional with a mission in mind: "I want to draw pets because everyone else is doing people. I want to specialize in this."

Nutt has had years of experience drawing his dogs, first his German shorthaired pointer Harper and now Pixie.

He began sketching pictures of his dogs. But whenever he shared these with family or friends, they would ask for one of their pets.

"By the end of the year, I decided I could turn 'Do my pet next!' into a business," Nutt says on his Web site.

He started drawing pets at dog shows and other dog-related events and has been at it since.

Nutt started showcasing his talent in kindergarten.

"I did a picture of Clifford the Big Red Dog, and I got many requests from my friends to make the same picture for them too," Nutt said.

"I did it happily because I got a lot of attention for my art, and it helped me make friends, too."

Growing up, art was something he squeezed in between academics and basketball.

"I knew art school would be too expensive, so I didn't think about it as a career then," he said.

Now Nutt does caricatures at events such as the Halloween pet costume party organized by The Doggie Door on Park Avenue and the Fall Festival of Dogs, both in Winter Park.

He was born in Miami but grew up in Orlando. After graduating from Boone High School, he went to Valencia Community College and the University of Central Florida, where he took classes in elementary education.

He ended up going to work at Disney as a caricature and portrait artist in 1992.

That's also where he met his wife, Carol Beier, 28, who worked in the company's administrative office.

Today, Beier, originally from Brazil, is his business partner and helps at events and with his Web site and line of My Dog products -- T-shirts and mugs -- created with pet-image portraits.

Nutt admires George Williams, a New Orleans artist who paints pets. He is not, however, a believer in art schools.

"When you do things on your own, you realize your potential because you work a little harder, you try things that are unorthodox," said Nutt, who points out that many famous artists had no formal training.

"You make your way because you are not walking on a path that has been mapped out for you."

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