The homotopy analysis method is applied to the short-pulse equation in order to find an analytic approximation to the known exact solitary upright-loop solution. It is demonstrated that the approximate solution agrees well with the exact solution. This provides further evidence that the homotopy analysis method is a powerful tool for finding excellent approximations to nonlinear solitary waves. (C) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 25: 401-408, 2009