Commissioning a Portrait: What Actually Happens

A commission is the only way to get exactly the piece you want, and the process puts people off because it is opaque. Here is the whole thing.

Stage one — the conversation

Twenty minutes, in person or on a call. We talk about the subject, where the piece will hang, the light in that room and roughly what size the wall needs. Nothing is committed and there is no charge.

Stage two — reference material

For an animal portrait I want fifteen to twenty photographs, taken outdoors on an overcast day, at the animal's eye level. Phone photographs are fine. What I need is the shape of the head from several angles and at least one image where the eyes are properly lit.

For a person, I prefer one sitting of about ninety minutes plus photographs, but I work from photographs alone where that is not possible.

Stage three — the sketch

A small colour study, sent as a photograph for approval. This is the point to change your mind about composition, background or palette. Roughly two weeks after the reference material arrives.

Stage four — painting

Four to eight weeks depending on size and medium. I send one progress image at roughly the halfway point. I do not send more than that — work in progress looks alarming and the feedback it generates is rarely useful.

Stage five — framing and delivery

Two to three weeks for framing. We deliver and hang within the North West at no charge, and crate and courier elsewhere in the UK.

Cost

Size	Medium	Bracket
40 × 50cm	Oil on linen	£950 – £1,400
70 × 90cm	Oil on linen	£1,800 – £2,600
90 × 110cm	Oil on linen	£2,800 – £3,600
76 × 92cm	Paper collage	£1,600 – £2,200

Framing is quoted separately and typically adds £180–£450. A 50% deposit is taken at the sketch approval stage and the balance on completion.

What makes a commission go well

Good reference photographs, an honest answer about what you actually like, and a decision made at the sketch stage rather than the painting stage. That is genuinely all of it.

Enquire about a commission — I take a limited number each year.