How do you know a portrait is really hand-painted and not AI or a print?

Look at it under raking light, look at the edge of the canvas, ask for process photographs of that specific painting, and — if you are buying for clients — hold a sample in your hands. A hand-painted portrait has physical texture that a print, a “hand-embellished” print and a printed AI image cannot have, and a studio that paints by hand can show you the same painting at every stage. This article gives the five checks and explains what to ask for before you order.

The five checks

Check	What a real painting shows	What a print or AI image shows
Raking light	Brushstrokes cast shadows; paint is thicker where the light hits the subject	Flat surface; a uniform canvas weave under everything; or random gel texture on a “hand-embellished” print
Canvas edge	Paint wraps or stops at the tacking edge in strokes; drips and the ground layer are visible	Printed image continues perfectly around the edge, or stops in a clean straight line
Process photographs	The same painting at the sketch, underpainting, blocking-in and finished stages	Stock process photos, or process photos of a different painting
A sample in hand	Ridges you can feel; a smell of oil and varnish; slight variation between the proof and the piece	Perfectly smooth; smells of ink; identical to the screen image
The studio’s own statement	A clear list of what it does not do — no printing, no tracing, no AI, no splitting between painters	Vague words: “handcrafted”, “artist-finished”, “painting-quality”

1. Raking light

Photograph the painting with a light at 45° to the surface. On a hand-painted oil, every brushstroke throws a shadow — the paint has thickness, more where the light hits the form and less in the shadows. A print is flat; a photograph printed on canvas and painted over shows a uniform weave under the “strokes”. This one photograph settles most cases, which is why we send it with every digital proof.

2. The edge of the canvas

Turn the painting over or look at the tacking edge. On a painted canvas the strokes run off the edge unevenly, the ground layer shows, and there may be drips. On a print the image either continues perfectly around the stretcher — “gallery wrap” — or stops in a clean line.

3. Process photographs of that painting

Any studio can show process photographs of some painting. Ask for photographs of yours: the charcoal drawing, the underpainting, the blocking-in, the finished piece. A hand-painting studio has them because it took them; a print operation does not. Our How We Paint page documents one painting through eight stages, and portfolio pieces show their own process photographs when they exist — and say so when they do not, rather than borrowing another painting’s.

4. A sample in hand

If you are buying for clients, order one piece first. Feel the ridges. Look at it in daylight and at an angle. Compare it with the proof photographs — a real painting differs slightly from its photograph; a print is the photograph. Our trade program discounts the first sample for exactly this reason.

5. What the studio refuses to do

A studio that paints by hand can say plainly what it will not do. Ours: we do not print a photo onto canvas and paint over it, we do not trace a projected image, we do not use AI at any stage, and we do not split one painting between several painters. A studio that cannot say those four things clearly is telling you something.

Why the price makes people suspicious — and why it should not

Low prices for hand-painted work invite the question, and it is a fair one. The honest answer is structural: our own painters with no marketplace commission, no paid advertising, no gallery or retail layer, and shipping compared on every order. None of that touches the canvas. The price is explained on the trade page; the proof is in the raking light.