Commission Information
If you are looking to commission a painting or drawing of your pet this page shows the commissioning process. Both Nick and myself work from photos for your portrait. There's no need for us to see your pet, a good range of photos will enable us to create you a stunning drawing or painting. Have a read of the commissioning information here to give you an idea of the process. At the bottom of the page there is an example of a 'Live Commission' from start to finish and the left hand navigation gives you more information about the commissioning process. If you have any questions don't hesitate to email at any time.
Find or Take Photos
The first thing is take or find photos that capture your pets personality and character well. Photos are hugely important in the process and so you must choose your photos wisely. Our expertise lie in reproducing and interpreting your photo and establishing the characteristics and personality of individual animals. The portraits we produce are unique paintings or drawings of 'your pet' - not just any pet but 'your pet', so photos are key. The photo below gives a good indication as to the quality of the photo required. If you need any tips, have a read of our pet photography page.
Contact Us
Once you have collected or taken your photos, the next step is to send us any photos you have at a good resolution, letting us know a little about your requirements. You can email your photos or upload them via our online form, you can skype or telephone us to chat about your requirements or you can write to use us or alternatively you can arrange to visit us. You can see a photo of myself with one of our clients who visited in 2011 in our studio.
All photos are returned along with the finished portrait, or if photos are sent for our approval and we are unable to work with them, they will always be returned free of charge. If you are sending any treasured photos in the postal system, please take copies of them just in case of damage via the postal system. |
 |
Choosing your Photos
Taking or finding photos that capture your pets personality and character well is key to a good portrait. Photos are hugely important in the process and so you must choose your photos wisely. My expertise is in reproducing and interpreting your photo and establishing the characteristics and personality of your pet, so good quality photos are essential.
The photo below left is a good example, although reduce in size for the webpage, hopefully it will give you a good indication of the quality needed. Try to email them at the original size they came from your digital camera, if you need help just drop me a line. Digital camera photos are best, mobiles or tablets are usually not good enough to work from. |
 |
 |
Mock-ups
Once I have received your photos I will create you a mock-up of how your portrait could look - see photo above right. This often helps clients to know exactly what their portrait will look like before ordering. As you can see I opened the photo in professional photo editing software and turned the image to greyscale to bring it closer to how a pencil drawing would look. I then email this to the client so they could see what the end result could look like. This allows me to make sure everything is visually correct before putting pencil to paper. This is a very important stage in the process. |
| |
Making Payment
Once we have decided upon the mock-up, payment can be made on our website safely and securely using either your credit or debit card, or via paypal. We accept all major credit and debit cards and paypal online. Alternatively you can telephone us with your credit or debit card details and we can take your order over the phone at any time. Order online or call us on 07855 582109. If you are outside the UK please call us on +44 (0)7855 582109.
|
| |
Client List
We always have a client list - i.e. a list of clients waiting for us to create a portrait for them. Oil paintings are usually around 8 / 9 months and the pencil drawing are around 2 / 3 months. Our client list can always be viewed on our Studio Diary on the left hand side. If you would like to commission us and need to secure a place in our waiting list, then simply make a deposit and we can discuss your needs in the knowledge that your slot is safe. We work on a first come, first served basis. We provide gift certificates and gift cards for those who would like to give a portrait as a gift for a special date if we are unable to meet your deadline. |
| |
Portraits in Progress and the Final Scan
As you can see in the images above, left is a photo of the portrait being drawn by myself and the image on the right is a final scan of the original.
To ensure that every client is 100% happy with their portrait, I email a copy of the portrait for the clients approval. I scan each drawing and also upload the final version onto our portraits in progress blog. Any amendments or alterations that clients need me to make can be done at this stage. This process ensures that the client is 100% happy with their portrait before it leaves my studio. In fact clients often tell me that they are even more delighted when they receive the original portrait, as it looks even better in the flesh. |
|
 |
 |
| |
Happy Client Feedback
Once the clients are 100% happy the portraits are ready to be sent. John Wardell - Owner of Knuckels in the painting and photo above, was thrilled with the outcome and two of Johns emails are below. |
| |
|
Facebook Comment -
John Wardell commented on Red Kite Studios - Portrait Artists Melanie and Nick's link.
John wrote: "I couldn't be happier. I am loving the process unfold. Thank you" |
|
| |
Hi Melanie and Nicholas,
I meant to send an email letting you know I received to beautiful painting and how happy I was with the work. Currently it is hanging in my bedroom and we love it. Thank you for taking the time and asking what I wanted and most importantly, delivering as promised.
Warm regards,
John Wardell |
|
| |
Bespoke Framing
I can provide a full framing service by my wonderful framer Jane, for any client that is able to collect their pencil portrait from my studio. Due to my pencil portraits being framed under glass they are very fragaile and even though our portraits are packed to the highest standard we cannot guaruntee breakages through the mail. If you are able to collect, and are interested in a framed portrait, please mention this when you enquire and I can give you full details of our mouldings avilable. |
 |
| |
Prints of your Portrait
If you would like a print of your portrait for family, friends or your office, we can arrange this for you also. We work with a professional printing company who prints all of our giclee prints for us. |
| |
Eco Friendly Packaging
Once the portrait is ready to send, we flat pack very safely and securely. We take pride in our packaging, its almost as important as the contents, with 20 years of packing experience we have found the best results for our paintings. We also try to use environmentally friendly products and packaging, and those that haven't yet been made biodegradable I am hoping our clients will reuse them. Everything we send our portraits out in, should be able to be reused or recycled. the materials we use are as follows -
Hardboard - Recyclable. Check your local facilities for recycling. We hope that our clients will use the hardboard for their own purpose.
Bubblewrap - Not biodegradable, currently looking for alternatives. We hope that our clients will take the time to reuse - or pop them to their hearts content!
Waterproof Mailing Bags - 100% biodegradable and can be recycled.
|
| |
|
Delivery
Due to the time spent on each drawing and painting and the value of each portrait, we have tried and tested many delivery methods. We feel we have come up with the most safe and secure way of sending our portraits worldwide. For the UK portraits we use Special Delivery for smaller portraits and Parcel Force for larger portraits. We then use International Signed for for worldwide smaller portraits or Parcel Force Priority for worldwide delivery. Both the Parcel Force Driver and the Post Office lady know us very well!
We also like to use bright waterproof mailing bags for high visibility in the postal system. We also match the packaging with fragile tape both sides, front and back, so that it can be clearly seen as a fragile parcel. The recipients name and address is clearly printed on the front, along with our address too. There are no promotional texts on the front of the parcel so that if the portrait is being sent a gift, the recipient wont know what is inside!
If you are ready to start the portrait commission process, your next step is to gather together your photos and email them to us. We look forward to hearing from you soon. |
