How a commission works

A house portrait begins with a photograph and ends with a sheet of paper. Between the two sits a short conversation, and the better the conversation, the better the drawing. This page lays out how a commission usually runs, so a first-time client knows what to send, what to say and what to expect back.

What the client sends

The artist works from photographs, so the first parcel is a set of snapshots: the house from the angle the family likes best, a second view for the side that hides, and close shots of anything the camera flattens, a carved gable, a brick pattern, the dog on the porch. Three-quarter views from the front make the best portraits. Straight-on elevations read flat; a corner reads as a house.

What the client says

The instruction matters more than the photograph. Most clients want the house as they remember it, not as the camera found it: the wire to the next pole gone, the cars out of the drive, the sale sign off the lawn, the tree a season younger or older. Say it plainly and the drawing obeys; leave it unsaid and the pen keeps what the photo shows.

Sizes, timing and delivery

The two working sizes are the small sheet, about 8 by 10 inches, and the standard sheet, about 11 by 14. A collage sheet gathers several structures on one page: the house, the barn, the church down the road. Ink only is the faster commission; an inked sheet with a watercolor wash takes longer. The finished sheet ships flat between boards, never rolled, and it arrives ready for the mat.

For the full account of each step, the commission board keeps four sheets: Commissioning a house portrait, What the pen removes, The sizes a portrait comes in and From snapshot to sheet.