Children's and Baby Portraits, Hand-Painted From Your Photos

Children are painted as they are at the age in the photograph — the proportions of a child’s face are nothing like an adult’s, and we measure them from the photo rather than approximating. The large eyes, the short nose, the soft jaw and the way a baby’s cheek meets the ear are drawn at the sketch stage, and the expression is kept exactly as the photo has it: a grin with a missing tooth, a serious two-year-old stare.

Skin and light

A child’s skin is painted in thinner, warmer layers than an adult’s, with the cool halftones kept very soft. The catchlight in the eyes is the single most important mark on the canvas and is placed exactly where the photo has it. Soft daylight from a window is the light that makes this possible; flash flattens a child’s face and puts a hard white disc in each eye.

Siblings and ages

Siblings are painted together from one photo or from one photo each, combined at a consistent scale with a sketch first. Some families commission a series — the same child at one, five and ten, each painted at the same size and hung together.

Mediums

Charcoal or graphite on paper is a favourite for newborns and babies: soft, quiet, quick to frame and lower in cost. Oil on canvas is chosen for the portrait that will hang for decades; acrylic gives the same look with faster drying. Photographers who do newborn and family sessions order painted portraits from their own frames at trade pricing, one image or a whole season of them.