Compilation Portraits — Several Photographs Into One Painting

Most group portraits are compilations, because the best photograph of each person is rarely the same photograph. We take one photo per subject — any age, any date, an old print or a phone photo — and build one painting from them: scale matched, eye lines related, light from one side, clothing that sits together. You see the arrangement as a sketch and approve or change it before the painter begins.

What people combine

• A family spread across countries, photographed apart, painted together — see family portraits.
• A grandparent who has passed with a grandchild they never met — see grandparents and grandchildren.
• Pets that never met, or a pet who has passed with the pet you have now.
• A person and their animal, when the dog never looks at the camera at the same moment — see people with their pets.
• A parent at a wedding they missed, painted into the wedding photograph.

How the sketch works

From your photos we draft the composition: who stands where, the heights of the heads, which way each turns, where the light comes from, what everyone wears. The sketch goes to you; you approve, or move someone, or swap a photo. Only then does painting start, and the digital proof at the end is where the likenesses are checked one by one.

Price and medium

Combining is not charged separately — price is set by size, number of subjects, detail level and medium. Oil is the default; charcoal on paper suits a quieter compilation from old black-and-white photographs. Photographers and memorial services order compilation portraits for their clients at trade pricing from one piece.