Strange subjects!

I have just received a new commission.... a BIG one! This lady is an animal nut haha, she has so many!
No worries hey, good money in my pocket,... but it's the animals that she wants me to draw that are getting my heart rate up :S

2 Guinea pigs
A siamese fighting fish
2 Budgies

As well as a couple of dogs, cats and a horse.
All in pastel.... PLEASE let her want them on seperate pieces of paper... or at least match the animals together.

The money is going to be very good, she is a doctor that works with my father and is refuses to let me charge her 'mates rates'. So we're looking at approx. AU$175 a piece depending on the photo's she supplies and how she wants them all set out.

Has anyone ever drawn a guinea pig, fish or budgie in pastel, or even in just coloured pencil/graphite? I'm panicking I wouldn't have a clue where to start but I really don't want to turn this one down it's alot of money!

Can't say that I've drawn any of those...sorry! I do have some really cute pics of the guinea pigs I had though...hmm...may just have to see what I can do with them!

Budgies are very easy to draw there just little puff balls :)

Ugh, I have never drawn any of the above. Some how I think you are going to do an amazing job. You may discover the joys of getting to work with vibrant colors as I am expecting the budgies and fish to have. You had better be posting your progess for us to see. Good luck!!!!

Haha the shape isn't a problem at all, I'm fine with proportions. It's the detail of the feathers that is going to stump me. Charcoal and graphite are fine as you can work on the smaller details of a photograph, pastel is much harder to capture fine details and you can really botch it up.

Liz, luckily the fish is a Siamese Fighting Fish so it *should* be pretty colourfull. I'm looking forward to putting more colour into my work as doing the usuall dogs, cats and horses I have to stick to the tamer colours, so this could be interesting to see what I come out with!
I'm in a bit of a drawing hole at the moment, not happy with anything that I'm doing, I just can't get them right anymore... so I think I'll wait until I finish off some of my slightly 'easier' commissions before I start giving experimentation a crack.