Painting a portrait of a loved one, a partner, or a child is a beautiful and highly emotional project! Because human faces are incredibly detailed and we are very sensitive to facial features, choosing the right photo is absolute key to a successful painting.
To ensure your portrait looks realistic and recognizable, please follow these strict requirements for human subjects:
1. 📸 Close-Ups Are Essential (Chest-Up is Best!)
- The Rule: The face(s) should take up at least 60-70% of the photo. A "selfie-style" or chest-up shot is absolutely perfect.
- Why? If you upload a "full-body" photo of someone standing far away (e.g., standing in front of a mountain), their face on the canvas will be smaller than a coin. The software will not be able to generate eyes, a nose, or a smile. It will simply become a blank, flesh-colored blob.
2. 💡 Soft, Even Lighting on the Face
- Please ensure the person’s face is evenly lit by natural light.
- Avoid photos where half the face is bright and the other half is in a dark shadow. Heavy shadows on a face will be converted into dark brown, grey, or even green paint blocks, which does not look natural on a canvas.
3. 🏞️ Keep the Background Simple
- A standard kit has a limited number of paint colors. If your photo has a very complicated background (like a busy room, lots of trees, or a crowd of strangers), the software will waste too many colors trying to paint the background, leaving fewer colors for the face!
- Pro-Tip: Choose a photo with a simple, solid-colored background, or zoom in so the background is mostly cropped out.
4. 🎨 The 48-Color Upgrade (Highly Recommended for Faces)
Human skin tones require very subtle, smooth color gradients. If you use a standard 24-color kit for a close-up portrait, the shadows and highlights on the skin might look like harsh, patchy blocks.
- We strongly advise upgrading to the 48-Color Option for any human portrait. It provides double the amount of transition colors, ensuring the skin looks soft, natural, and highly realistic.
What if I only have a full-body photo?
If your favorite photo is a full-body shot, don't worry! You have two options:
- Crop the photo on your phone to zoom in on the faces before uploading.
- keep the full shot and size up so the faces are big enough to paint, using the same sizing as our other guides — 1 person: 12×16″ (30×40cm); 2–3 people: 16×20″ (40×50cm); 4–6 people: 20×24″ (50×60cm); 7+ people: 24×36″ (60×90cm). For any portrait we recommend the 48-Color Option."