How to Commission a Custom Portrait by Keet

Last updated 09/16/2008

I am currently available to create custom portraits in my simple, fresh, fun style (although if you are counting on delivery by Christmas 2008, space is limited, please sign up fast!).

How it Works

Pick the package you want (packages and prices are listed further below on this very web page), then email me (keet [dot] leibowitz [at] gmail [dot] com) to let me know what package you're interested in and your thoughts are: what are you hoping for in your portrait? Who is the subject of the portrait? What does that person really, really enjoy being or doing or pretending to be? What are the strongest symbols of that person's life? What colors/themes/places do you have in mind? Do you like to be surprised (in which case I do extra research and pick the colors/themes/places/symbols for you)? Remember that I won't just replicate your source photo(s). I want the portrait to be as inventive and yet also as authentic as possible, and so I will try to incorporate elements that speak to who the subject really is. Each portrait is a one-of-a-kind, dedicated labor of love.

Within 3 days of receiving your email I will email you to acknowledge your request, ask for clarification/extra information as necessary, and let you know approximately when I will begin and approximately when the portrait will be complete. I will invoice you when I'm ready to start drawing; full payment -- by PayPal or personal check -- is due at the time of invoice.

What I Will Need

  1. A minimum of 5 very clear source photos of the portrait subject's face/body (sending me some links to flickr or photobucket or snapfish site or whatever you've got is just fine; some people just email me their photos directly and that's fine, too).
  2. Please be sure that the source photos represent the subject at the approximate age at which you want me to depict your subject. Some people want a very current portrait. Some people have asked me to honor a past or re-imagined childhood. (I realize you might not have 5 source photos of your mother as an 8-year-old. Please don't let that hold you back! I will do my best to work with you and be flexible on this!)
  3. If you are asking me to include more than one person in the same portrait, please point me to a source photo that shows their relative height (so if I am drawing siblings, for example, I'll see from your source photo that the 9 year old is about a head taller than the 6 year old, or whatever the case may be).

A Special Note About Infants

I will happily draw an infant if that is your true desire -- I love babies! But I very often counsel people to wait for a portrait until their tiny ones are just about 2 years old, or maybe older, with clear likes and dislikes and temperament. It's not that babies are physically harder to draw -- it's that, generally, their personalities haven't fully emerged yet. Also, you might want to consider that your portrait is an investment, in which case you'd want it to have staying power and some long term potential. Silly as it may sound, it's best to avoid inadvertently affronting the "big kid" who wants to assert that he or she is no longer a baby!
A nice alternative, if you're looking for something for the nursery NOW that will still have plenty of worth after the crib and bassinet are packed away, is for me to create something that honors the child's name.

The Packages

The Full 11x14" Treatment

Snow White and the Seven Cats     Share the Road

The price for the "full treatment" custom portrait: $100.00 US
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This gets you:
- research on as many photos of the subject as you can give me (a flickr stream or photobucket or whatever is just fine)
- research into your subject's favorite items/life symbols/pastimes
- I will gladly take your suggestions on color, theme, etc. into account, or surprise you, as you wish; either way, your drawing is not considered complete until you're satisfied or I will cheerfully refund your money.
- 11x14" 300dpi JPG image licensed to you for any non-commercial purpose
- 11x14" 300dpi Photoshop PSD file licensed to you for any non-commercial purpose, with editable layers so you can manipulate them if you are a Photoshop fan
- Each additional person or pet included in the drawing: add $40.00US (includes research on photos of the person and/or pet)
- For a full color 11x14" print on HP Advanced photo paper using archival pigment ink, shipped within the United States or Canada: add $25.00US (you may certainly print your own; many people have my work printed/mounted on canvas too)

The 8x10" Head and Shoulders Portrait

happy birthday, shaina punum     in a field of flowers

The price for a simpler "head and shoulders" portrait: $60.00 US
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This gets you:
- research on as many photos of the subject as you can give me (a flickr stream or photobucket or whatever is just fine)
- research into your subject's favorite items/life symbols/pastimes
- I will gladly take your suggestions on color, theme, etc. into account, or surprise you, as you wish; either way, your drawing is not considered complete until you're satisfied or I will cheerfully refund your money.
- 8x10" 300dpi JPG image licensed to you for any non-commercial purpose
- 8x10" 300dpi Photoshop PSD file licensed to you for any non-commercial purpose, with editable layers so you can manipulate them if you are a Photoshop fan
- For a full color 8x10" print on HP Advanced photo paper using archival pigment ink, shipped within the United States or Canada: add $20.00US (you may certainly print your own; many people have my work printed/mounted on canvas too)

The 8x10" Child's Name

The price for an 8x10" image honoring a child's name: $48.00 US
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This gets you:
- Child's name in big, bold, quirky, fun hand-drawn letters set in a theme: fairies, pirates, bears, unicorns, cars, trucks, under the sea, flowers, jungle -- let me know what you're thinking of!
- 8x10" 300dpi JPG image licensed to you for any non-commercial purpose
- For a full color 8x10" print on HP Advanced photo paper, shipped within the United States or Canada: add $20.00US (you may certainly print your own; many people have my work printed/mounted on canvas too)

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