Three subjects
Portraits of three people
Three heads need a composition, not a row: triangles, who sits and who stands, why it starts at 24 × 36 in — and who takes the middle.
Three subjects is where group portraiture begins, and the price table reflects it: 24 × 36 in at $789 is the honest starting size, because three heads on anything smaller fall under the four-centimetre mark each and stop reading as individuals from across a room. Three subjects also cost three fixed steps on the table — the same increments whatever the relationship between the three.
Compositionally, three is both easier and harder than two. Easier, because a triangle is the most stable arrangement in picture-making: one head high, two low, or the reverse. Harder, because three people in a photograph are almost never arranged in a triangle — they are in a row, arms linked, facing the camera, which is a composition a painter has to dismantle and rebuild.
The triangle, and who takes the middle
Here is the rule nobody tells you: the middle seat is the reason for the painting. Whatever the occasion — an anniversary, a parent's birthday, three siblings after a loss — one of the three is why the commission exists, and that person belongs at the apex of the triangle with the other two arranged around them. Get this decision wrong and the painting is technically fine and quietly wrong for years.
Who sits and who stands follows from the triangle, not from politeness. A parent seated with two adult children standing behind works; two seated with one standing behind centres the standing figure; three standing need contrast in turn and height or the row reasserts itself. The mock-up — within 24 hours, before any paint — is where these arrangements are tried cheaply.
Photograph sources follow the same logic as any group: one frame with all three faces sharp is ideal and rare; three separate photographs are combined for $60–$70 with the light matched; and the mock-up exists precisely because a rearrangement on paper costs nothing while a rearrangement in paint costs weeks. If the three of you have never been in a room together for a photograph, that is not a disqualifier — it is Tuesday, in studio terms.
Working from the photographs you have
If the three of you have one photograph together where all three faces are sharp, it may still need rearranging out of the row. If you have three separate photographs, they are combined into one composition for $60–$70 with light direction matched — routine work, approved in the mock-up before painting starts.
The hard case is height: if the three people in the sources have height differences the composition wants to contradict, the mock-up will show it and you can adjust before any paint is mixed. What no process can fix is a missing profile — a face photographed only from the front cannot be turned honestly.
Height differences between adults matter less than people fear, because the composition controls apparent height: a seated figure loses twenty centimetres at a stroke, and the triangle does the rest. What the composition cannot absorb is a difference in age that the sources exaggerate — the parent photographed at seventy beside children photographed at forty looks like a different family. Choose sources from the same era where you can, and flag it in the brief where you cannot.
Sizing up from three subjects
24 × 36 in at $789 is the floor, not the ceiling: three head-and-shoulders subjects fit it, three full figures with a setting want 30 × 40 in at $1,090. Each additional subject beyond three — the fourth sibling, the dog — is another fixed step, and the table above is the entire price list with nothing hidden behind a quote.
Painting time is unchanged in the rule but not in practice: a three-subject canvas uses its full three to five weeks, and the two progress photographs matter more here than on a single head, because a likeness drifting at the first checkpoint is cheaper to catch than one drifting at the last.
One sizing caution from the other direction: three heads at 30 × 40 in or 36 × 48 in leave room for setting — a table, a garden, the workshop — and a setting is often what makes a three-person painting feel like a moment rather than a line-up. The jump from $789 to $1,090 buys the room for that context, and for a gift marking something that involved all three, it is usually the difference that matters.
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
24 × 36 in at $789 is the honest minimum — three heads on smaller canvases fall under four centimetres each and stop reading as individuals. Three full figures with a setting want 30 × 40 in at $1,090. The mock-up at the exact canvas size shows the difference within 24 hours.
Three subjects is a fixed step on the published table on top of the canvas price — the exact figures are above, with 24 × 36 in at $789 as the usual starting point. There is no quote to wait for and shipping is free worldwide, rolled, tracked and insured.
Yes — three separate photographs are combined into one composition for $60–$70, with the light direction matched, and you approve the combined mock-up before painting begins. The one thing that cannot be done is turning a face to an angle it was never photographed at.
Whoever is the reason for the painting. The middle of a three-figure composition is the position of honour, and the triangle — one head high, two low, or the reverse — is what stops the picture becoming a row. Try it in the mock-up; it costs nothing to rearrange before any paint is mixed.
Three to five weeks of painting, using the full range more often than a single head, plus three to five business days in transit. Two progress photographs come during the painting and one free round of adjustments after. Rush delivery at $90, three weeks total, applies to the smaller and mid sizes.
Send the three photographs
One photo of the three of you or three separate ones — the combined mock-up arrives within 24 hours at the exact canvas size, before anything is charged.