Ask a studio for “a portrait of my father” and the first question back will not be about budget or deadline. It will be: head and shoulders, or something more? That single choice — the crop — decides which canvas sizes make sense, how tall the face ends up on the canvas, and therefore which row of the price table you land on. It is also the decision buyers most often get wrong, usually by choosing a format they loved in a museum but that cannot work at their canvas size. The four terms below come from centuries of portrait practice, and studios use them because they are precise. Learn them and the rest of the commission gets easier.
The four standard crops
Head-and-shoulders (the bust). The face is the subject; the canvas ends somewhere below the collarbone. Everything on the canvas serves the face, which is why this format works on small canvases and why it is the format of almost every gift portrait. On a 12 × 16 inch canvas the finished face is roughly 2 to 2.5 inches tall — small, but readable, because nothing competes with it.
Half-length. From the head down to the waist. This is the workhorse of portrait painting and the format most “classic” portraits use. It gives the painter a torso to pose — turned shoulders, folded hands, a collar worth painting — while keeping the face large. On a 20 × 24 inch canvas, a half-length face runs about 4 inches tall: it reads from across the room.
Three-quarter length. Down to about the knees or mid-thigh. The figure now needs furniture or ground to sit in — a chair, a wall, a fence — and the canvas needs to be large. Below 24 × 36 inches the face starts shrinking past the comfortable threshold, so three-quarter format effectively begins at that size.
Full-length. The entire figure, with floor under the feet. This is the grand format — the one that fills a stairwell or hangs above a sideboard — and it is the most expensive per inch of face, for a reason the next section does the arithmetic on.
The face shrinks as the figure grows
Here is the arithmetic that decides everything. On a given canvas, every extra inch of body you include takes canvas away from the face. A 24 × 36 inch canvas spent on a half-length gives a face about 5 inches tall. Spend the same canvas on a full-length and the face drops to roughly 3.5 to 4 inches — a 20 to 30 percent cut, in the single element the painting exists to flatter. The size guide sets the thresholds plainly: a face under 2 inches tall needs a lean-in to read; 3 inches is comfortable at conversational distance. Full-length figures therefore belong on 30 × 40 inch canvases and up, where the face recovers to 4.5 to 5 inches. A full-length on a small canvas is not bold; it is a stranger in the hallway.
| Format | Canvas that works | Face height | One subject |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bust | 12 × 16 in | 2–2.5 in | $289 |
| Bust or half-length | 16 × 20 in | 3 in | $389 |
| Half-length | 20 × 24 in | 4 in | $549 |
| Three-quarter | 24 × 36 in | 3.5–4 in | $789 |
| Full-length | 30 × 40 in | 4.5–5 in | $1,090 |
These are the studio’s one-subject prices; the full grid on the custom portraits page adds columns for two, three and four subjects.
Never crop at a joint
One rule survives every era of portraiture: do not end the composition at a wrist, an elbow, a knee or an ankle. A forearm ending in nothing reads as amputation, and viewers feel it even when they cannot name it. The professional crops are through the middle of a segment — mid-forearm, mid-thigh, mid-calf — where the eye accepts an implied continuation. The same logic applies to margins: leave canvas in the direction the subject looks or moves. A half-length with the face turned left wants breathing room on the left; crop it tight on that side and the painting feels like it is about to walk off the edge.
Hands deserve their own sentence. They are the second most demanding part of the body to paint, after the face, and they punish a weak reference photo harder than anything else in the frame. If your photograph does not show the hands clearly, the honest move is to crop at the forearm rather than paint guesswork. If the hands matter — a wedding ring, a held instrument — say so before the mock-up, and send a second photo where they are sharp.
Which format for which job
Gifts and desks
Bust, 8 × 10 or 12 × 16 inches, one subject, $189 to $289. At desk distance a 1.5 to 2.5 inch face is all you need, and the smaller canvas keeps the gift affordable enough to commission more than once.
Couples
Half-length, 20 × 24 inches, two subjects, $699. Two heads side by side need the wider torso of a half-length to sit together naturally; the arrangement rules are in the couple portrait guide. A two-head bust on 12 × 16 inches puts each face under 2 inches — technically paintable, genuinely cramped.
Uniforms and formal figures
Full-length or three-quarter, 24 × 36 to 30 × 40 inches. Dress uniforms are designed to be seen whole — braid, belt line, boots — and cropping them feels like cutting a sentence in half. The kit-specific choices are in the uniform portrait guide.
Children
Bust or half-length. Children grow out of nothing faster than a canvas, and a 16 × 20 inch half-length painted at age four is a time capsule in a way a formal full-length rarely is. The age-by-age choices are in the child portrait guide.
When the crop is cheap to change
The crop is decided on paper, not canvas, and that is good news. The digital mock-up you approve before painting starts shows the exact framing — where the figure ends, where the margins fall — and changing it there costs nothing. The review checklist is in the mock-up guide. After approval the math changes: widening a half-length into a three-quarter means a new canvas and repainting, which studios treat as a new commission or rework. Look at the mock-up and ask one question: is anything cut off that should not be?
Choosing in one minute
- How many faces go in? Two or more pushes you toward half-length and larger.
- How far will most viewers stand? Across a room wants a 3-inch face minimum.
- Does the clothing or kit matter? Uniforms and gowns argue for three-quarter or more.
- What is the budget? $289 buys a fine bust; full-length starts around $1,090.
- If torn, choose half-length. It is the format four centuries of sitters converged on, and the safest first commission.
The short version
- Four crops: bust (head and shoulders), half-length (to the waist), three-quarter (to the knee), full-length (with floor).
- Each step up in format needs a bigger canvas or it steals inches from the face.
- Full-length wants 30 × 40 inches ($1,090); half-length is happy at 20 × 24 ($549); busts work from 12 × 16 ($289).
- Never crop at a wrist, elbow, knee or ankle — mid-segment only.
- The mock-up is where the framing is set and where changes are free.
If you already know which format fits, the next step costs nothing: send the photo and the crop you have in mind. The answer comes back as a fixed price for that exact format — and if the crop and the canvas do not get along, the reply will say so before you pay anything.