Graduation
A painting for graduation
The gown, the hood, the young face under all that regalia — a graduation portrait painted from the ceremony photograph, with the dates that make it arrive in time.
A graduation portrait is painted from a ceremony photograph, and the photograph is doing a lot of work: the gown, the hood in the institution's colours, the sash, the cap at the correct angle. Regalia is unforgiving detail — a hood painted in roughly the right colour reads as a different degree, and someone in the family will notice. Choose a reference where the hood colours are legible, not washed out by sunlight.
Count back from the ceremony: if the painting is for the day itself, ceremonies cluster in early summer and the order needs to be placed in March or April — mock-up within 24 hours, three to five weeks of painting, three to five business days in transit, and margin for the free adjustment. Most people instead commission it for the weeks after, which removes the crunch entirely.
Young faces are the hard part
Here is the fact that surprises people: a young face is harder to paint than an old one. A sixty-year-old face carries its structure in lines a painter can lean on; a twenty-two-year-old's likeness lives in proportions a few millimetres wide — the set of the eyes, the width of the jaw. Get those subtly wrong and the result is a stranger in your child's gown.
This is why the mock-up and the two progress photographs exist, and why they are worth using on this subject specifically. If the first progress photo reads as a cousin rather than your daughter, say so at that stage — the free adjustment round is there for exactly this, and it is cheaper for everyone than a finished disappointment.
A related trap is the borrowed photograph. The best available image of the graduate is often two years old and visibly so — different hair, a different face at that age, because faces move fast in the early twenties. Prefer the recent ordinary snapshot to the excellent old one; the gown and hood can come from the ceremony photo while the likeness comes from something current, and combining the two costs $60–$70 with the mock-up showing the result before paint is mixed.
Parents commissioning versus graduates commissioning
Parents buying for a graduate: you choose the photograph, and you will be tempted by the formal one. Choose instead the frame where the person looks like themselves — the grin with the cap half off, the onesie under the gown. A technically perfect ceremony portrait that nobody hangs is the most common version of this gift going wrong.
Graduates buying for themselves: commission it in the fortnight after the ceremony while the photographs are fresh, before the gown is returned and the moment has evaporated. Either way the price is by size and subject count — 16 × 20 in at $389 is the usual single-figure choice, and each additional subject adds a fixed step from the table above.
Whoever commissions, the approval question is the same: one person sees the mock-up, the progress photographs and the finished canvas, and one person requests the free adjustment. For parents that is usually whoever knows the graduate's current face best — which is not always the parent paying. The certificate ships inside the tube with the painting, naming artist, medium, size and year, and it is the piece that turns a nice canvas into a dated record of the degree.
Gown details worth checking
Send the institution's colours with the photograph — hood lining, sash, the colour of the gown itself, which is not always black. Photographers' floodlights flatten colour, and the painter will otherwise match what the file shows rather than what the degree requires.
If the ceremony photographs are all wide shots where the face is small, a separate clear headshot can supply the likeness while the ceremony photo supplies the regalia and pose — combining two photographs is $60–$70, approved in the mock-up before any paint is mixed.
A note on timing the hand-over: graduation gifts given a few weeks after the ceremony land better than gifts rushed to the day, because the graduate is back home and the wall is real. The painting takes three to five weeks plus three to five business days of transit; ordered in the fortnight after the ceremony, it arrives while the photographs are still on the family group chat and nobody has yet filed the gown away.
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
For the ceremony itself, order in March or April: mock-up within 24 hours, three to five weeks of painting, three to five business days in transit. Most families instead commission in the fortnight after graduation, which avoids the rush entirely. Rush at $90 brings painting and dispatch to three weeks total.
Yes, if you tell us what they are — send the institution's colours alongside the photograph, because floodlights flatten colour and the painter will match the file rather than the degree. Where the regalia is illegible in every photo, we will ask before guessing.
$189 for 8 × 10 in, $289 for 12 × 16 in, $389 for the 16 × 20 in most people choose, up to $1,390 for 36 × 48 in. Each additional subject — a sibling, the family dog — adds a fixed step shown in the table. Shipping is free worldwide, and there is no graduation surcharge: the price is the same whether it is a gift or one you order yourself.
It is workable. A separate sharp headshot can supply the likeness while the ceremony photograph supplies the regalia, pose and background; combining two photographs costs $60–$70 and the combined mock-up is approved before painting begins. What a mock-up cannot do is turn a face to an angle it was never photographed at, so send the clearest headshot you have.
That is the point of the process: you approve a mock-up before paint is mixed, see two progress photographs during the three to five weeks, and get one free round of adjustments on the finished canvas. Young faces are genuinely harder — say so early if a progress photo reads wrong.
Send the graduation photograph
Include the hood colours and the date you need it. Fixed price from the table, mock-up within 24 hours, and an honest answer about the deadline.