William Whitaker: Commission Terms and Conditions

Prices & Terms:

• Head and shoulders: $20,000
• Three quarter length: $42,000
• Full length: $83,500
• (For each additional figure on canvas, add 75% of the list price.)

Travel expenses to the client’s location are $4,000. If the client can come to my studio for one or two sittings, I charge no travel expenses.

The cost of the frame and final shipping expenses are in addition to the prices listed.

Charges are not based on the size of the canvas, but on the complexity of the figure pose.

Portrait Procedure:

The best portraits are based on classical principles of light and shadow. Flat lighting is good for driver’s licenses, and photographic lighting is good for photographs, but subjects lit by natural indirect interior daylight are best for painted portraits.

Developments in digital technology have made it possible for me to paint from my computer. I bring my equipment to the client’s location, prepare the space for proper painting studio conditions, then take digital shots of the subject.

Back at my studio, I adjust the best image or images using my computer and Adobe Photoshop. I then send images of the final design to the client for approval.

During the painting process, I send the client pictures of each stage via e-mail. This way the client can see the painting develop from start to finish.

My goal is to create both a perfect physical and spiritual likeness. The portrait should be the next best thing to the actual living person. An oil painting is archival and can last for centuries. It becomes a part of a person’s personal history.

I also paint from life. Actually, I prefer it. In that case the subject must come to my studio. A portrait taken to the degree of accuracy and finish I like may take up to twenty or thirty hours of sittings.