Nigel Sussman has done great things for Dogster. He’s an artist who works for our parent company, SAY Media Inc., and he illustrates stories for our site. He also painted a big Italian Greyhound on the wall of Dogster HQ, which we wrote about shortly after he finished it.

Now Nigel wants to do something nice for Dogster readers by giving you a chance to win a portrait of your dog. But before we go into the specifics about how to enter and what you’ll get, we’ll show you some of the illustrations he has done for us.

Here’s a shot of the big Italian Greyhound near our work area.

Here’s a Basset Hound he drew to illustrate a story about the strange habits of readers’ dogs.

This one’s a Chihuahua from that same story.

The several dogs below illustrated a story about Suri Cruise, daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, and how she fell in love with a dog at a pet store — and of course we encouraged her to adopt.

Below is a video that shows him drawing a Dachshund.

Sketch Theatre 7 from nigel sussman on Vimeo.

For the winner, Sussman will create a digital full-color illustration of your dog. The final image will measure about 18 by 24 inches. We’ll have it printed, framed, and shipped for you.

Contest rules

To win, write in the comments section below and tell us why your dog should be made immortal in portraiture. Also attach a color image of your dog, the bigger and clearer the better. (Shots from a digital camera should be fine.) Include at least a head shot, but an accompanying full-body shot can’t hurt.

We’ll ask Nigel to pick his favorite — and that lucky person will win the original artwork.

To be eligible, you must use your Disqus account to comment below. Creating a profile and avatar takes just a minute, and it’s a great way to participate in Dogster’s community of people who are passionate about dogs. (And note that if your Disqus account doesn’t contain a valid e-mail address, you can’t win because we can’t contact you. So please check your account.)

We’ll notify the winner by e-mail, and you have two days to respond before we choose someone else.

The deadline is 12 noon PST on Tuesday, Oct. 2. This contest is open to everyone on the planet!

Look at more of Nigel’s work on his website.