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How To Hire a Portrait Artist
It can make you a little nervous ordering a custom portrait on line the first time. However, if you can overcome the risks, the rewards can really be worth the effort! Here are some important tips to help you overcome your concerns.
THE ARTIST & HOW HE/SHE WORKS:
This is, after all, the most important element of all. Who will paint your masterpiece? The materials the artist uses is a relatively small cost in the total scheme of things. (However, it is an important part of the quality of the painting, as you will see in the next section.) The talent of the artist, and the time it takes to paint your portrait are the primary factors influencing both the price and the quality of the finished painting.
Top-flight artists are very talented. Even at that, it takes a long time to paint a quality portrait. Unlike original art for sale (such as landscapes, still lifes, or fictitious people) a portrait of a person, or pet, that you are intimately familiar with cannot be merely good. It must be perfect. Nothing short of that will ever make you happy. I'm always amazed at how little it takes to spoil a portrait. A tiny brushstroke that's misplaced on a critical feature can make that subject look awkward - not at all what they really look like. No, unfortunately when it comes to portraiture, perfection is the ONLY standard.
Here are some of the ways that artists create their works:
Traditional paint on canvas
Local - Obviously, when you can go to an artist's studio, see the paintings, and communicate directly with them, this is good. The big drawback is the limited selection of available artists and the price, which is usually very expensive.
Overseas - Many companies contract with artist groups in third world countries where the wages are far less than in the USA. These people contact me at least 4 or 5 times a year to get me to do business with them. I don't, of course. The price is certainly attractive, but the communication is perilous, at best, and the final painting will suffer from it.
Computer manipulation
PhotoShop - There are others, but this is the premier computer program for manipulating images. And for altering photos it is unparalleled. Unfortunately, it also has filters that can give images a bit of a “painterly” look. There are many “so-called artists” that sell portraits made in this manner at a very cheap price. They're all over the Internet. Some identify their process, but many don't. They print these images onto canvas or paper and sell them as a painted portrait. If this is what you want, that's OK. Just be aware of what you are getting.