A family portrait in the Heirloom style
Warm ochre and umber, controlled brushwork, thick paint in the lights — the look of a portrait that has hung in the family for a century, made from one phone photo, from $69.
What Heirloom does with a family portrait. The face is kept exactly as photographed and painted in warm, blended tones with no smoothing; the impasto goes into hair, cloth and the lit cheek. It is the style people choose for a portrait that has to hang beside the grandparents'.
The photo. Everyone roughly the same distance from the camera, every face clear, taken in daylight. A horizontal photo turns the sizes on their side — 36×24 over a sideboard.
The size. 24×36 or larger, so each face reads from across the room. For four or more people, 36×48.
How to start. Upload one photo and see it painted in Heirloom free, in about fifteen seconds. Leave an email to see the other five styles and make up to three free adjustments. A person checks the full-resolution proof and you approve it before anything prints; if it isn't right, we repaint it free.