Stephanie Sekula is an Essex based professional wildlife and pet portrait artist and educator creating realistic and detailed drawings in coloured pencils.

A woman sitting at a wooden table, painting a realistic portrait of a sleeping black dog with colorful fluffy accents around it, against a background of a brick wall and patterned pillows.

My story begins as many others do: a love for drawing animals grew from a very young age, whiling away hours drawing from nature books and magazines in my bedroom.

My first pet portrait commission came at the age of sixteen, when my college Art teacher put me in touch with the caretaker to draw his dog. Things ignited from there, and I enjoyed the extra income drawing many of the college staff members’ pets.

Portrait drawing came and went over the years. I completed my BA Hons degree in Illustration and Graphics, then later qualified as a teacher after completing my PGCE in Post Compulsory Education and Training. I moved from the West Midlands to Essex a decade ago to teach, and after Covid I took the leap to drop to part-time in my teaching in order to rekindle my love for drawing.

I pride myself on a consistently realistic and colourful drawing style, honed from years of experience. Attention to detail, coupled with strong, rich layers of depth and colour, is what sets my work as a coloured pencil artist apart. I use two brands of pencil: Caran d’Ache Luminance and Faber-Castell Polychromos. Both are highly lightfast, meaning they won’t fade, and are professional quality pencils. All artwork is drawn on Daler Rowney smooth heavyweight 220gsm paper, which is off-white in colour and archival.

I am open to all enquiries and would love to work with you.

Artist painting realistic portraits of four dogs on a white canvas, with a brick wall, potted plants, and decorative items in the background.
Gray cat sitting at a wooden desk with art supplies, including colored pencils, pens, and a paintbrush. The desk has a cup with penguin designs, a glue stick, a tape roll, a paint palette, and a small gray electronic device. The background shows a light green wall, a window with some plants and small decorative objects.