Our portraits can be exact copies of any photo’s you may have or we can paint a picture that satisfies your imagination.

This customer was overseas in the military when he placed his order.  He wanted a portrait sent to his squadron back in the U.S. that showed his sense of humor.

Using a picture of the subject, we added the other objects as the customer requested. The customer described how he wanted the painting laid out. Our artist drew a sketch to confirm the customer’s expectations

Realism is a style of art which attempts to show the subject matter as it actually looks.  The brushstrokes are minimally visible and the artist pays attention to every small detail.  Once completed, the painting will easily resemble the subject from your photograph. However, the painting differs from a photograph in that the artist will selectively copy the details so the end result is a portrait that provides a life-like image of the subject. Some of the greatest realism artists who painted portraits were Rembrandt, Gustave Courbet,  and John Singer Sargent.

Impressionism is a style of art that creates an impression of the subject matter. From a distance, the painting will look like the subject matter contained in your photograph. However, upon close inspection, the viewer will see brushstrokes of color.  A painting using the impressionistic style will place colors side by side with minimal mixing.  The color mix occurs in the eye of the beholder.  This style of art would enable you to have vivid colors in the portrait, even if they are non-existent in the photograph. By using the impressionistic style, the artist can capture the expression and personality of the subject in a way that a camera cannot. Some of the greatest impressionist artists who painted portraits were Edgar Degas, Pierre Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet.

View our gallery for some examples of each style.

Here are some of the pictures we started with:

pet images

pictures of the couple

The customer described how she wanted all five of them sitting together wearing sombrero hats. We then created pencil sketches like this one to confirm we had a common vision of the final painting:

a draft sketch before we started painting

The final result:

portrait painting based on photos

framed painting provided by the customer

This is just an example of how we can create scenes that you imagined even if you do not have photos of the exact arrangement. Send us your photos and ideas by email to sales at lindenalley.com and we will give you a free consultation on how we could paint for you.

]]> http://www.lindenalley.com/blog/2009-09/fantasy-painting/feed/ http://www.lindenalley.com/blog/2009-08/painting-a-portrait-from-snapshot-photos/ http://www.lindenalley.com/blog/2009-08/painting-a-portrait-from-snapshot-photos/#comments Fri, 07 Aug 2009 04:11:06 +0000 admin http://www.lindenalley.com/blog/?p=34 The following is an example of our recent work where we took some snapshot photos and used them as references to create a formal portrait painting.

Remembering a Great Smile - Portrait Painting

We painted this portrait only based on a snapshot photo:

Snapshot photo used as refererence for the painting

The customer also provided another image with more details for the ear-rings and explained details about the eye and hair colors that were not clear enough in the photo. Jack from our team of portrait artists then started first with a pencil drawing to let the customer approve the posture and overall composition, then moved on to painting with oil on canvas. We then shipped the final painting completely framed and ready to hang. The customer`s response:

“The portrait arrived this morning. I absolutely love it! Thank you so much.”

This is just an example of how we can paint portraits quite different from the actual photos.  Just give us enough photos to use as references, and we will be able to create exactly the scene you have imagined. If you are interested in having us paint for you, please contact us and we will give you a free consultation. We look forward to hearing from you!

Brown Wood

gold wood

black wood

silver wood

and last but not least, we also offer a “gallery-style” internal frame, where the canvas is stretched and then wrapped over the frame:

gallery-style internal frame

Not sure which type is best for your painting? The portrait artist in charge of your painting will be happy to make a recommendation.

1. Reseller Program. Are you a professional photographer, gift retailer, art gallery, or anyone with customers who may be interested in commissioning custom-made artwork? Sign up for our reseller program. You set your own prices, and we can ship directly to your customers using your branding.
2. Affiliate Program. Do you have a website or blog? Link to us, and receive a commission on any sales made as a result. It’s very simple to get setup. No matter how small your site is, if you think your visitors may be interested in our work, try mentioning us. Just fill out the simple application form so you can get your commissions.

Please contact us if you have any questions or feedback about these programs. Help us let more people work with a portrait artist to create personalized art!

Besides the clear advantages of much lower cost and increased convenience, what are some other pros and cons of using pictures instead of real-life models for portrait painting?

• Pro: Sometimes it’s hard to get everyone together and sit in a studio. The subjects may be deceased or simply living too far away to make a studio setting practical. Painting from a photo is the only option then.
• Pro: Painting from photographs allows the artist to mix and match postures and facial expressions from different photos. You can pick the most natural expressions from your Kodak moments which may be hard to replicate in a studio setting.
• Con: In portraits from photos it can be harder for a junior artist to inject a life-like feeling to the subjects. There may be a tendency to paint too much like in the picture, whereas sometimes the painting can actually look best if it’s not exactly like the photograph. That’s where the skill of our artists comes in to give it a human touch. The artists at Linden Alley are masters in their field and know how to give their work an artistic feeling.