Leprechaun Max



Max doesn’t always agree with the direction I give him!

About the Project

I’m a sucker for dog costumes. When I found a leprechaun costume on Amazon, I knew what Max’s next portrait would be! I added a shamrock sprig and ribbon to spruce up the hat. I’d thought of this portrait months in advance — the Halloween before I bought a plastic cauldron to use as the pot of gold. I bought some fake plastic coins, spray painted them gold and hot glued them to gold fabric (it would have taken a ton of fake coins to fill up that cauldron; this was the cheaper option).

Max happily posed for a few hundred photos. After selecting my favorite (often the toughest part in the entire portrait process!), I skimmed through my travel photos for a suitable background. I chose a forest photo I took while vacationing in New Zealand. I wanted some greenery in the foreground to help make the pot of gold look like it’s sitting on the forest floor, so I modeled some tufts of grass in Maya. I created the rainbow and composited all the elements in Photoshop.

I used the portrait on St. Patrick’s Day cards for friends and family, as well as stickers. Too cute!




Max has yet to find a true pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, but he once found $90 while on a walk. I’d say that’s lucky!


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