North Texas teen turns talent into pet portrait business

AUBREY, Texas - Whether for giving a gift or remembering a best friend, one North Texas teen's talent is in high demand. She’s one of the young bosses consumer reporter Steve Noviello is featuring this week. 

For 19-year-old Sydney Rodenroth, the delight is in the details.

"I kind of eyeball it. It doesn’t have to look pretty. You just have to get the shapes down," she said. "Then it really comes down to observing. Everything and like printing it out in your mind."

She’s just getting started at Collin College and this summer, her passion for pencil sketching pet portraits is earning her cash.

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"I try and keep it cheap by art commission standards because I’m not the most famous artist in the world," she said.

Starting at $70, Sydney will sort through the colors and values and has even created some techniques of her own.

"I always start with the eyes and the nose. It’s the details," she said. "I like to sometimes mix in white paint. I don’t really recommend it, but it works for me."

The tedious process takes anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks with most of her creativity coming at night.

"There are times when I get too in the zone, and then I stay up to like 6 in the morning and I look outside and I’m like oh my gosh it’s 6 in the morning, as if I didn’t do that to myself," she laughed.

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Her advice to other artists?

"Let yourself get frustrated. Let yourself be annoyed with what you’re working on. The times I was the most upset with what I was doing were the times I was improving the most," she said.

Sydney said its those lessons that turn the lines on her canvas into a portrait of your prized pet.

"Art comes down to how I utilize those lines and bend it to what I need," she said.

Sydney said she loves pencil as her medium because it is erasable. 

While her first customer was her grandfather when she was 16, you can be her next one by contacting her through Facebook or Instagram.

For links to more than 100 other kid-run businesses, visit Steve Noviello on Facebook at facebook.com/savemesteve.