Commission a Portrait
The Vision
Noah's goal is to create a truly stunning work of art that puts on full display the sitter's essence and story. Using every tool at his disposal, Noah works with his clients to craft an exciting and inspiring vision for a painting that will provide a lifetime of satisfaction, joy, and meaning.
No matter your level of clarity or uncertainty about what you want, Noah will guide you step by step to help discover and actualize the best possible vision for your custom portrait painting. This vision can be pieced together from many different starting points, both abstract and material - a feeling, expression, location/background, clothing/jewelry, meaningful objects to include in the composition, etc. It can also start with questions. What do you want your portrait to say? What feeling do you want your painting to radiate? Noah will work with you to come up with a unique and special vision for your portrait painting.
The Photoshoot
Noah places immense emphasis on preparation for his paintings in the form of professional quality photoshoots and photo editing in order to guarantee a successful work of art and life-like portrayal of his subject. The photoshoot/editing process allows Noah to make big-picture adjustments digitally, thus paving the way for him to concentrate all his painting efforts on conveying the truest essence of his sitter and designing beautiful brushstrokes that elevate the piece. This intensive and thorough preparation process takes care of the "infrastructure of the painting," so to speak, letting Noah set his sights on the elevation and actualization of the highest potential for your portrait.
Noah will have his camera connected to his computer throughout the photoshoot; this allows both Noah and the sitter to evaluate the pictures in real time, making sure the images are aligned with the intended vision while also allowing for new, unexpected ideas to arise that might improve upon the composition.
After the photoshoot, Noah will piece together a final photo reference with the most ideal elements from multiple photos to function as a launching point for the painting process. He'll send the final photo to the client for approval, at which time the physical painting process begins.
Technique
Noah invests his heart and soul into every brushstroke of every painting. Whether it's personal work or commissioned work, Noah is a perfectionist. When powered and focused correctly, this trait turns out to be of immense benefit to the quality of his work and the satisfaction of his clients.
Noah has studied for years under the close mentorship of the masterful Marvin Mattelson, who has trained him in the mindsets and technical processes utilized to profound effect by the great masters of the past. Noah draws upon all the knowledge and tools at his disposal with the aim to create technically stunning works of art, while always being his harshest critic and pushing to improve on every facet of painting, striving to reach ever higher levels of his artistic potential.
Finishing Touches
When the painting is near completion, Noah will share a high quality, color corrected photo of the piece with his client for final approval. At this stage, Noah welcomes any proposed edits to the portrait suggested by the client, within reasonable limits, and will integrate them into the final work to ensure the client is satisfied with the painting for years and decades to come.
Preservation - Varnishing
Once the piece is given sufficient time to dry, Noah will apply a layer of sealing varnish to ensure the painting's life and luster is preserved for generations to come.
The size and complexity of a painting are the ultimate factors in calculating the price for your portrait, because as those two factors increase, so does the time it takes Noah to realize that vision on canvas. Noah works with his clients to find the right project, size and composition that suits their budget. The prices listed below are starting estimates. Contact Noah to start a conversation about bringing the portrait of your dreams into reality and receive an accurate quote based on your vision.
Portrait Drawing
- Fully rendered head with other areas preserved at a less finished sketch stage, giving the drawing a feeling of being in process - this is many people's preferred style of portraits
- Fantastic option for a tighter budget
- Lower cost per drawing if commissioned in bulk (eg: multiple portraits of family members)
Head & shoulders
- A head and shoulders portrait gets right to the heart of the sitter's essence by placing all the compositional energy on the sitter's face and eyes through the beautiful subtlety of facial expression against a tonal background
- Fantastic option to hang in a smaller space or as part of larger grouping
- This format also works perfectly for pet portraits
- Lower cost per painting if commissioned in bulk (e.g., multiple portraits of family members, business executives, etc.)
1/2 - 3/4 Figure
- A half figure portrait allows for more of the essence of the sitter to come through - with the inclusion of one or both hands, a more dynamic pose, and potential for the inclusion of a background and specific background elements, such as personally meaningful objects, this option offers great compositional potential to be a fuller and more dynamic portrait, conveying even more of the sitter's personality and being
- Lower cost per painting if commissioned in bulk (e.g., multiple portraits of family members, business executives, etc.)
Full Figure
- A full figure portrait is the crown jewel of portraiture - it's incomparably powerful presence offers the most expansive compositional opportunity to convey the sitter's essence by way of putting great significance on the pose, background, meaningful objects, and full dress
- Lower cost per painting if commissioned in bulk (e.g., multiple portraits of family members, business executives, etc.)
Multi-Figure
- A multi-figure portrait offers the incredible opportunity for a couple, family, or any group to be portrayed all together in one frame. This option can be commissioned starting from a half figure couple portrait all the way up to a full figure family portrait. The compositional opportunity to show the interconnectedness and shared love of a group of people can be profound.
- Lower cost per painting if commissioned in bulk (e.g., couple portrait of parents + portrait of multiple children)
Additional Notes on Portrait Pricing
General
A portrait painting is a very special investment - one that you'll live with for the rest of your life, as well as to be cherished by generations to follow - so it's important to find the right balance between your budget and the most satisfactory vision for your painting. All that being said, Noah works hard to provide deeply satisfactory results to his clients at any price range.
Additional Costs - Artist's Travel
The best possible outcome for your portrait painting requires that Noah shoot his own photo reference. You can learn more about why this is so important to a successful painting process here. Travel expenses, such as airfare and hotels, will be billed to out-of-town clients as incurred.
Framing
To make the cost of his portraits more affordable, Noah constructs his canvases in such a way that you don't need to frame them - depending on the painting, the sides of the canvas will either be painted the solid color of the background or be painted a smooth white. However, a frame can be of great visual and physical support to a painting. Although the cost of a frame isn't included in the final cost, Noah will happily help you pick out the best possible frame for your new portrait painting.
