Two subjects
Portraits of two people
Couples, parents and children, sisters: why two heads should never sit level, what two subjects cost, and how to work from photographs taken apart.
Two subjects is a fixed step up from a single-subject price on the table, and it is also the point where composition starts doing real work. Two heads at exactly the same height, level and evenly lit, is the arrangement that makes a couple portrait look like a passport page: each likeness can be accurate and the picture still somehow lifeless. The difference between the two heads — one higher, one turned, a shoulder overlapping — is what makes two people read as one picture.
The minimum canvas rises with the headcount. Two head-and-shoulders subjects fit 20 × 24 in at $549 comfortably; below that, each head drops under about five centimetres and the likenesses stop reading as individuals from across a room. The mock-up, which arrives within 24 hours, will show you exactly how much face your chosen size allows.
Different pairs, different arrangements
A romantic couple works with one seated and one standing behind, or both seated with a few degrees of turn between them. A parent and child wants the child seated or held and the parent leaning in — the height difference is the composition, so use it rather than levelling it out. Two sisters or two friends are the hardest pair: similar heights and similar ages flatten the picture, and the fix is contrast in posture or profile rather than in scale.
What never works is the symmetrical double bank-portrait, however much the source photographs suggest it. If all you have is two frames of each person facing the camera squarely, say so in the brief — the mock-up can rearrange the pose before any paint exists.
The arrangement question is also a hierarchy question, and it is worth deciding before the mock-up rather than after: in a parent-and-child portrait the parent usually anchors and the child animates; between equals, alternate — one frontal, one turned — so neither reads as the accessory. None of this is visible in a flat photograph and all of it is visible in a painting, which is why the mock-up conversation matters more on two subjects than on one.
One photograph or two
The best case is one photograph of both people where each face is sharp and the light agrees with itself. That photograph is rarer than people expect, so the standard route is combining two separate photographs into one composition — $60–$70, with the light direction matched and the combined mock-up approved before painting starts. It is routine work here; many studios refuse it, which is worth knowing before you compare quotes.
What combining cannot do is invent an interaction that no photograph hints at. If neither of you has ever leaned towards the other, the mock-up can pose it, but the faces must come from real frames at real angles — a profile that was never photographed cannot be painted honestly.
A practical note on sources: phone photographs of two people together usually sacrifice one face for the other — the frame where you are both sharp is the exception, not the rule. Check your candidates at full size on a computer rather than on the phone screen; the compression that hides a soft face at palm size is obvious at painting scale. Send the two best candidates of each person and we will tell you which pair combines honestly.
Sizing and pricing two heads
20 × 24 in at $549 is the comfortable two-subject portrait; 16 × 20 in works for two close heads-and-shoulders; 24 × 36 in at $789 gives two figures room for hands, chairs and setting. Each size's two-subject price is the fixed step shown in the table above — the same whether the pair is a couple, siblings or a parent and child.
Timing is unchanged by subject count except in one respect: a two-subject painting uses its full three to five weeks more often than a single head, because there are two likenesses to build. Rush delivery at $90 compresses painting and dispatch to three weeks on the smaller and mid sizes.
Two last practicalities. First, the certificate can carry both names, which matters more than it sounds for gifts — a joint painting with one name on the paperwork reads as one person's gift. Second, the approval conversation needs both of you if the painting is for both of you: a couple portrait approved by one half arrives with a surprise the other half did not choose, and that is a worse surprise than a late canvas.
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
A second subject adds a fixed step to the single-subject price at every size: the exact two-subject figures are in the table above, with 20 × 24 in at $549 being the comfortable choice for two head-and-shoulders subjects. Shipping is free worldwide and the mock-up is included.
No. Two separate photographs are combined into one composition with the light direction matched, for $60–$70, and you approve the combined mock-up before any paint is mixed. It is routine work here; many studios decline it, so ask before comparing on price alone.
20 × 24 in is the comfortable minimum for two head-and-shoulders subjects; below that each head drops under about five centimetres and the likenesses blur. Two full figures with a setting want 24 × 36 in at $789. The mock-up settles it visually within 24 hours.
Yes, within limits: the mock-up can rearrange a side-by-side pose into one seated and one standing, change the crop and the background. What it cannot do is invent a face from an angle that was never photographed — the likenesses must come from the references you send.
Three to five weeks of painting plus three to five business days in transit — a two-subject canvas uses its full three to five weeks more often, with two likenesses to build. Rush delivery at $90 brings painting and dispatch to three weeks total on smaller and mid sizes.
Send the photograph — or two
One photo of the two of you, or two separate ones. Within 24 hours you will see the combined mock-up at the exact canvas size, before paying anything.