Would you like a family portrait?

Frequently Asked Questions

How much time does it take to paint a family portrait?

Our paintings take around a month from the date you place your order, until it is delivered to your door. The painting itself can take up to 2 weeks to complete, (depending upon the size that you order and how many people are in the painting) and there are a further 9 stages that the painting must go through until it is ready to be shipped. We do offer an express service which is about one week quicker than our standard service and is a cost of £15.

Choosing the right background for your family painting.

It may well be that you have a great photo of your family, but you are all sat in your living room with clutter all around and other photos on the walls. That's no problem as our designer can remove the background and place your family in a setting of your choice. Typically, we would use a plain tone used by photo studio's that isn't a stark colour, so provides interest but isn't a distraction. We will choose a colour that works well with the group, but if you have one in mind based upon the room where you painting will be hung, please let us know as we are happy to accommodate your wishes.

Adding a deceased loved one to your family portrait.

This is very popular, especially when bringing together people who are no longer with us from the older generation to be with new born children who they have never met. Just let us have the photos and our designer will add them in.

Personalise your family painting by adding some text.

Why not add some text to the foot of your painting? We can add the family name, the date when the occassion took place, or some words that have special meaning to you. Just let us know what you would like adding and our designer can add them. We can always tweak the size, colour and position of the text to suit.

How To Pick The Right Size For Your Family Portrait.

Picking the right size for your family portrait is an important decision that you want to get right. The first thing you need to think about is the room where the painting is going to be hung. How big is this room and what is the distance between the where the painting is going to be and the people viewing it? The minimum size of the painting, (from one corner to the furthest corner diagonally) should be this distance divided by 3. Our artist also needs to be able to paint everyone accurately so we tend to go up in size for every half a head that is added:

• 18" x 12" - Single Portrait or Two People Portrait
• 24" x 16" - 3 to 4 People Portrait
• 30" x 20" - 5 to 6 People
• 36" x 24" - 7 to 8 People

However, you can cut these figures in half if each person appears as a full body, rather than just their face. A good rule of thumb is to think that each head should be at least 2 inches on the canvas.

How much does it cost for a Family Portrait painted?

Our prices start at just £135 for a single person portrait and we add £25 for each additional person, and 2 addtional animals. You also need to consider the above point on size as we couldn't paint family of 5 adults at a size of 18" x 12". Looking at the above table, a 5 person portrait should be a minimum size of 30" x 20" which is £165, then you need to add on the additional 4 adults at a cost of £100, which will give you a total of £265 for your family portrait. If you send us your photo, (which many also include your pets) our designer will not only create a composition for you, but we will also give you the price for your portrait in a variety of sizes so you should be able to find a size and price that suits your needs.

Do I have to have all my family members in one photo?

Not at all, and in fact the fact that we can create a perfect composition for you from many photos is one of the main reasons that our customers choose us. Just send us your favourite photos of everyone you want in your painting and our designer will merge them together into one image for you to view. We are happy to do this for you free of charge, (not everyone does) as we want you to be able to see the layout of your painting before you spend a penny, and you can also make as many changes as you like until you are happy with how it looks.

It is worth bearing mind however that the success of this depends on how alike the source images are. For the best results, they need to be of a similar resolution and sharpness, similar lighting conditions, and most importantly the position of the viewer to the subject needs to be the same in all photos. For instance, you couldn’t combine an image where on one photo the viewer is looking down on the subject, and on another they are at eye level.

What if someone isn't smiling in my photo?

It is quite rare to take a photo where everyone is looking their best, but we can fix this. It may be that someone isn't smiling, or looking at the camera, or even holding something that you don't want. Our designer can change all these just let us know what you would like us to change. You may want to send in additional photos where you want to replace the head of one person from the group picture with one where they are looking good, (but please bear in mind the above point when it comes to merging photos).

I don't want everyone that is in the photo in my painting.

This isn't a problem and happens more often that you think, (have a look at the 'Bluebell painting' above). We can remove anyone you don't want in the picture, whether it be a stranger in the background, or someone from your group that you don't want in your painting. Just let us know who to remove, and our designer will take them out of the image.

I want to combine some photos for my family portrait, but I'm not sure how it will look.

Send us your photos and instructions on what you would like, and our designer will piece your composition together for you, free of charge. We will then show it to you so you can see the layout of your portrait and suggest changes so that we can come up with your ideal painting. It will be hanging in your home for many, many years so we want to get this right. We also don't believe in charging you anything at this point, we want you to feel confident in our ability to deliver your family portrait and it is our role to do this. If you don't like the composition or you are not happy for any reason, then it is fine to walk away. You are under no obligation to proceed once you send you photos to us. If we haven't got this right, then it is our fault and we wouldn't want you to continue so you have no risk to at least start an enquiry and see what you family portrait will look like!