Turn to these artists to turn your favorite picture into a hand-painted one

Hyderabad-based software developer Ravi Malik celebrated the memorable occasion by presenting hand-painted portraits to his friends. “Portraits make someone feel special, they create a sense of royalty,” he says, explaining why.

At Sunil Kumar’s home in Pune, visitors are greeted by a family portrait of 2×2 feet. An IT professional, Sunil calls it a ‘wall that reflects positivity during the pandemic’. “Seeing positive things during uncertain times fills us with hope,” he says.

touch of royalty

Portraits conjure up images of royals holding signature poses for several hours to be painted by renowned artists. All you need today is a picture.

While family portraits in oil on canvas may have been popular decades ago, in recent times they have been replaced by photographs and selfies. But now, more than a year after battling a pandemic, people are eager to celebrate with their friends and family the old-fashioned way: as a result, studios, galleries and artists are seeing an increase in commissioned portrait work .

Over the past few months, Chennai-based Focus Art Gallery, which offers a customized portrait service, has seen an increase in inquiries from the single digit to nearly 15 in a month, requesting portraits of families, parents or elders. Those who have passed away. , “Clients never commission their photos,” says founder Mayur Shah.

Customers send Peacock photos with preferences in background color to suit their home/office decor. “Working through photos works best for us, as four of our portrait artists live in and out of Chennai,” he says.

Single portraits or couples, parents and pets in realistic and super-realistic modes range from 18×24 inches to 48×72 inches and cost from ₹20,000 to ₹2.5 lakh. Pictures with a touch of surrealism look just as good as photographs. “Even the reflection in the eyes and hair looks life-like and picture-like,” explains Peacock.

Hyderabad-based famous portrait artist Abdul Latif Farooqui believes that people prefer a portrait rather than just a framed picture because “Portrait art is not only the likeness of the person but it should be the likeness of the soul.” He became a portrait artist at the age of 17 and has over 3000 drawings – from life and photographs – to his credit. The 68-year-old is now a guest faculty at the Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University in Hyderabad, where he teaches the nuances of portrait art. Drawing from a photograph begins with a rough sketch, adding natural elements of light and shadow to enhance the image and fill in colors. “Photos look ‘flat’ without depth and a portrait requires an approximation of a person’s height,” he says.

Aishwarya Ramachandran has been photographing humans and pets for five years. A biomedical engineer, she is training under noted artist Avi Elango.

As a pet lover, Aishwarya loves to paint animals carefully; His subjects include Karuppaiah, a rooster. A Sri Lankan-based family commissioned their portrait in 2020 when Kuruppiah died was “the most beautiful looking pet and close to family” she recalls.

capture equality

She says the biggest challenge is working with old photographs, which are often unclear. His most difficult task was to paint a portrait of a woman from a black and white passport picture from the 80s. “It was ruined; it was quite a challenge to recreate it on canvas, without any other context; the family was also particular about the jewelry and saris she wore,” she recalls. Aishwarya cited another group photo of the woman to understand the color of the woman’s skin and create a realistic portrait.

Bengaluru-based artist Varun N Rao, who mainly draws from photographs, seeks out several portraits of the person from different angles for reference. He explains, “Some pictures of people wearing glasses have glare that hides the eye. Some people get caught up in messy hair which is a challenge to color. Referring to different photos of the same person helps to add depth and texture.”

Like Aishwarya, she takes ‘a little guess’ when referring to black and white photos. “When the photos aren’t clear, one has to guess the contour lines and paint,” he says. Varun’s friend had once got his father-in-law’s portrait painted. His reference was a black-and-white framed photograph of a 15-year-old termite eater that was damaged by Mumbai’s humid weather. “He approached me as no studio was willing to work on the picture. She told about her skin colour, shape and mole and also gave a picture of her husband and with little guesswork I could finish it,” he recalls.

Making a 40×25 inch acrylic canvas of a father and a daughter is his cherished memory. He recalls, “The girl’s father was no more and he asked me to draw a picture as if her father was holding her hand. Tears welled up in the girl’s eyes when she saw the work.”

create opportunity

Handpaintedstories.com, a three-year-old Hyderabad-based venture founded by Karan Bhangay, is a platform for artists to showcase their talent. “The craftsmanship was the same but the artists abroad earned more than the artists here. I knew many talented artists and hoped to bridge the disparity by bringing them all on one platform,” says Karan.

Meanwhile, Pune-based PortraitFlip commissions handcrafted paintings based on photographs from across the globe. Conceived in the dormitory of Vellore Institute of Technology in 2018, it was inspired by a friend’s futile attempt to gift a handmade painting to his girlfriend in college, shared PortraitFlip CEO Sunny Kumar.

Starting with seven artists, the start-up now has 150 artists based in Delhi, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Assam, Odisha, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, who specialize in oils, colored pencils, watercolours, acrylics, etc. , working with pencil. , and charcoal. Paintings are delivered in 12 days.

It has recently launched a painting movie service, in which customers can watch a time-lapse video of the painting process sitting at home and also share it with others. Sunny says, “It is as if someone is sitting in the gallery and watching the artist work.”

So, the next time you want to cherish a memory, try turning its picture into a picture. Anand stays on the wall forever, with an artistic touch.