Pet project proves a winner for Jessica

But now artist Jessica Lennox is getting requests from all over the world from people who are desperate to get their hands on her lifelike drawings of cats and dogs.

Business is booming for the 26-year-old, who is originally from Heath Hayes, and she is fully booked until January next year.

The self-confessed animal lover specialises in drawing dogs, cats and also horses.

"I've always known I wanted to be an artist and draw for a living," she said.

"There was nothing else I wanted to do really. When I was younger my dream was to work for Disney and draw for them."

Miss Lennox, a former pupil at Kingsmead High School in Hednesford, studied printed textiles at Loughborough University. After graduating she worked for a few different companies before deciding to go it alone and sell art for a living.

She continued: "I started off drawing different wildlife and putting the images onto mugs and cushions. I would sell them at shows and online. It was busy at times but it wasn't what I wanted to do really.

"I loved drawing but not the other side of getting the image printed onto the mugs and cushions."

Around 18 months ago she was asked by a friend to draw a picture of a dog for her friend's father. After putting the final touches to the portrait, Miss Lennox decided to dedicate her time to pet portraits.

Miss Lennox, who draws in her study at her home in Driffield, Yorkshire, said: "A friend asked me to draw their Dad's dog and I enjoyed it so much I decided to do it full time.

"At first I was only selling my pictures to friends and family but it has ballooned since then. I mainly draw dogs but also cats and horses.

"Most of my business comes from Facebook. I don't really like Facebook much but it's been brilliant for business.

"I'm now fully booked until January with about 50 drawings to do. I haven't really promoted the business any other way than on Facebook.

"I get requests from people all over the country and even the world. I've done pictures for people in America and Canada."

It takes Miss Lennox three to four days to complete a portrait. She sketches the image in pencil at first and then uses coloured pencils to bring the drawing to life.

Customers email photos of their pets to Miss Lennox, who owns two Staffordshire Bull Terriers called April and Ruby, and she chooses the best one to draw.

She has become an expert at drawing one particular breed of dog. After sketching a basset hound in September for a customer, the picture was posted on a hound breeders' website and since then she has been 'inundated' with requests for basset hound pictures from 25 different people.

In the future Miss Lennox is hoping to sell her portraits at shows locally and the international Crufts Show which takes place each year at the NEC in Birmingham. She also wants to display her artwork in galleries.