Frequently Asked Questions

From the moment you approve your reference photo, typical production is roughly 4 weeks for Level 1 (Good), 5 weeks for Level 2 (Better), and 6 weeks for Level 3 (Best). VIP express shaves up to two weeks off these timelines for an extra $199 — handy for birthdays and anniversaries.

You’ll get an order confirmation by email immediately. We then start the assignment to a real artist who matches your tier. You’ll receive your first proof image within a few days. After your approval, the artist completes the painting; we’ll send you photos at key stages so you can request changes. Once you sign off the finished piece, we ship.

Yes — multiple times. We do not ship a painting until you’ve approved it. If something needs adjusting, we send it back to the easel.

Unlimited, before you give final approval. We’d rather take an extra week getting it right than ship something you’re not delighted with.

Sharp focus on the face is the only hard requirement. Good light helps. Smartphone photos from the last 5 years are usually perfect. Older scans, low-light photos, and blurry shots can still work — our artists have been doing this a long time and can interpret photos that would defeat any AI.

Yes. Common cases: a family portrait where one person is missing, a parent with their parent who has passed, or a pet that has crossed the rainbow bridge alongside its current owner. Send us all the photos you’d like to combine in your order notes — the artist will composite them naturally so the result looks like one moment, not a collage.

Yes — and it’s one of the most meaningful things we paint. Send the best photo you have of them; the artist will integrate them into your scene with care. We’ve done many of these and they’re consistently the paintings customers tell us moved them most.

Send it anyway. If it’s genuinely unworkable we’ll tell you within a day and ask if you can supply something else, or we’ll refund. Most “bad” photos are actually fine for an oil painting because the artist re-interprets the image — they aren’t copying pixels.

100% archival cotton canvas, gallery-stretched on a solid wooden frame. Same materials museums use for fine-art commissions — built to last for generations.

Professional-grade artist oils. We don’t use student-grade paint or acrylic dressed up as oil. Each finished piece is varnished for protection against UV and dust.

Real paintings. Every brushstroke is laid by hand. We can prove it: at the end of every commission you receive a short reveal video of the finished piece on the easel.

No. Properly cured oil paint with archival varnish on archival canvas is one of the most stable artistic media in existence — there are oil paintings from the 15th century still going strong. Keep it out of direct sunlight (as you would any artwork) and it will outlast you.

The same hands paint every order in this tier. Better and Best buy you more years of training, more time per stroke, and finer detail. Every level is hand-painted by a real artist. View our before & after gallery to see examples of each level next to the original photograph.

Yes — free worldwide shipping is included in every commission. Door-to-door, signed for, fully insured.

We replace it. Take a photo, use the contact form, and we’ll arrange a replacement painting at no charge. The shipping insurance covers this without affecting your guarantee.

Yes — VIP express knocks up to two weeks off production for $199 extra. Choose it during checkout. If you’ve already ordered and need to upgrade to express, use the contact form within 24 hours and we can usually accommodate it.

Because we don’t run permanent 50%-off promotional pricing. The price you see is the price the artist gets paid a fair share of, painting on archival materials, with unlimited revisions, free worldwide shipping, and a real money-back guarantee. We’d rather offer good work fairly priced than headline discounts on cheaper materials.

No. The price you see at checkout is the total. Shipping is included. There is no rush fee unless you choose VIP express, and there are no customs charges to recipient countries we ship to most often.

All major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express), Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal — processed securely through Stripe and PayPal. We do not see or store your card details.

100% money-back within 30 days of receipt. No questions, no awkward emails. See our full guarantee for details.

Tell us what isn’t right. The painting goes back on the easel and we keep refining until you say it’s perfect. We do not consider a painting “complete” until you have explicitly approved it. If we genuinely can’t make you love it, we refund.