Dog portraits
A dog portrait from your photograph
Hand-painted in oil on canvas, from the photo on your phone — including the one where he is looking slightly away, which is usually the one that looks like him.
Dogs are the subject where a bad painting is most obvious. Everyone who has lived with the dog knows the exact set of the ears, the way the muzzle sits, whether the eyes are set wide or close — and a painter who works from a stock dog shape will get all of it slightly wrong in a way that is impossible to point at but impossible to ignore.
So the work starts with the photograph, not the brush. Short-coated breeds need the underlying skull read correctly, because there is no fur to hide a mistake. Long-coated breeds are the opposite problem: the temptation is to paint hair, when what makes a rough collie recognisable is the shape of the head beneath it. Send three or four photos at different angles and we will tell you which one carries the likeness before you order.
How to photograph a dog for a painting
Get down to the dog's eye level — a photograph taken from standing height foreshortens the muzzle and makes every dog look like a different breed. Window light from one side, no flash: flash flattens the coat into a silhouette and puts a green disc in the eye that has to be invented later.
For a dark dog, put them against a lighter wall or a doorway; for a white dog, the reverse. If the coat is blown out to pure white in the photo, the painting has to guess at the colour of the fur, and guesses show. One shot in open shade is worth ten in direct sun.
A slight turn of the head is better than a straight-on passport shot, and ears forward beats ears back. If your dog will not hold still, take forty frames while someone squeaks a toy behind you — one of them will be the dog you know.
What size canvas a dog needs
A head-and-shoulders portrait works at 12 × 16 in, and that is the size most people choose for a single dog. A 16 × 20 in reads better across a room, and is the minimum for a full sitting figure with paws and a chair.
Two dogs on one canvas need 20 × 24 in at least, or their heads drop below about three inches each and stop reading as individuals. Three or more dogs usually work better as a set of separate canvases hung in a row than as one crowded picture — and the certificate can carry all their names either way.
The canvas is priced by size and subject count, so a second dog is a fixed addition rather than a new negotiation. The table below is the whole price list.
Dogs that have died
A large share of the dog portraits we paint are memorials, and they are commissioned with a different kind of care. Often the only photographs are old prints, or phone photos where the dog is at the far end of a sofa. Those are usually workable — the face needs to be sharp enough to read expression, not sharp enough to print.
If the photographs are creased, faded or torn, they are restored digitally first and you approve the restored version before any paint is mixed ($60–$70 for restoration or for combining two photographs). What restoration cannot do is invent detail that was never in the picture, and we will say so rather than paint a guess and charge for it.
What it costs
Price is set by canvas size and the number of subjects — not by the occasion, the deadline, or how much detail you ask for. The table below is the same one used on every painting page, so there is no quote to wait for.
| Canvas | Metric | 1 subject | 2 subjects | 3 subjects | 4+ subjects |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 × 10 in | 20 × 25 cm | $189 | $259 | — | — |
| 12 × 16 in | 30 × 41 cm | $289 | $379 | $459 | — |
| 16 × 20 in | 41 × 51 cm | $389 | $499 | $619 | $749 |
| 20 × 24 in | 51 × 61 cm | $549 | $699 | $849 | $1,029 |
| 24 × 36 in | 61 × 91 cm | $789 | $1,059 | $1,290 | $1,560 |
| 30 × 40 in | 76 × 102 cm | $1,090 | $1,449 | $1,749 | $2,090 |
| 36 × 48 in | 91 × 122 cm | $1,390 | $1,849 | $2,249 | $2,690 |
Shipping is free worldwide. Framing is optional and quoted separately — most customers have the canvas stretched by a local framer for $60–$120.
How it works
Send the photograph
One sharp phone photo is enough. Tell us the deadline, the wall it is going on, and anything that must or must not be in the picture.
See the mock-up within 24 hours
A digital composite at the exact canvas size and crop, so size and composition are settled before any paint is bought. Nothing is charged until you approve it.
Watch it being painted
Three to five weeks in real oil, with two progress photographs. You can raise a concern at either one — that is what they are for.
Approve, then it ships
You see the finished canvas first, with one free round of adjustments. Then it travels rolled in a rigid tube, tracked and insured, with the numbered certificate inside.
Real oil, not a print
Hand-painted on cotton canvas, varnished, signed. Brushwork you can see in raking light.
You approve before we paint
A digital mock-up at the exact size and crop, within 24 hours, included in the price.
Numbered certificate
Every painting ships with a signed COA stating artist, medium, size and year.
Free worldwide shipping
Rolled in a rigid tube, tracked and insured. No minimum, no distance surcharge.
Questions
Questions we actually get
From $189 for an 8 × 10 in, $289 for a 12 × 16 in, and $389 for the 16 × 20 in that most people choose. Prices rise with canvas size and with each additional dog; the full table is above, and shipping is free worldwide.
Yes — most of these commissions start from a phone photo, provided the eyes are sharp and the coat is not blown out by flash. Send three or four and we will tell you honestly which one carries enough detail before you pay anything.
Yes, from 20 × 24 in upward. Below that each head drops under about three inches and the likeness stops carrying from across a room. If the dogs never sat together, separate photographs are combined into one composition with the light matched.
Usually yes. What matters is that the face is readable, not that the print is perfect. Creased or faded photographs are restored digitally first and you approve that version before painting starts; restoration is $60–$70, quoted with the commission.
Three to five weeks of painting plus three to five business days in transit. Rush delivery brings it to three weeks including painting for $90. You see a digital mock-up within 24 hours of ordering, and nothing is painted until you approve it.
Send the photograph of your dog
You get a fixed price, a size that suits the wall and an honest delivery date — usually within a day, and before you pay anything.