This page is where you will find the answers to all your questions about Turnaround Time, Photos & Formats, Customising & Editing, Payment & Shipping, The Meaning of Life or anything else.

However, if there is still a question you can't find the answer to, we would happily help you out! You could simply use the contact form in the footer (in the bottom of every page) and ask us anything. We usually reply within 24 hours.

Click on a question to toggle the answer.


TURNAROUND TIME

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It depends on things like: will it be in Black & White or in Colour, will it be a single or a family portrait, etc.
On average, it takes our artists 10 business days to complete your painting. We guarantee you that it won't take more than 25 business days to have your artwork finished.

When the artwork is finished, we always let you preview it online before we ship it.

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It will take between 1 and 3 weeks to have your portrait delivered depending on the shipping destination.

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Actually, yes! Very soon we will be launching Gift Cards. They will be the perfect last-minute gift for your loved ones and will let them personalise their own portrait! Here you can subscibe to Newsletter so you could be informed when we launch this new feature:

Learn more about Gift Cards



PHOTOS and FORMATS

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We can paint a high-quality pastel portrait out of pretty much any photograph you send us as long as we can clearly see the details in the picture.

Still, from our experience, we recommend that you pay close attention to the following:

• Choose photos reflecting the photographed person's personality. Photos that say something to you and tell a story. Usually that story hides in the details. The expression, the pose, the eyes… The spark in the eyes... Everything counts to make a portrait truly special. If you have doubts about the way the person looks in the photo, if you think that the smile doesn't look natural, try again and pick another.

• A head-and-shoulders picture would work best. It’s strongly recommended the photo not to be full-length. It should instead be focusing on the face and showing just the upper part of people’s body. If you, however, still really want to order a portrait from a full-length photo, please use our Free Photo Consultation Service and we will give you our objective opinion.

• The lighting. Natural lighting and no sharp shadows on the face will make your photo look simply amazing.

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Here are a few things to avoid when choosing your photographs:

• Low resolution. When painting a portrait we have to clearly see the details in the picture. Otherwise the person wouldn't look alike as much as if the picture was good-quality.

• Contrejour. This is a photographic technique in which the camera is pointing directly toward a source of light. It produces backlighting of the subject. This effects usually hides details.

• Bad angle. In most cases selfies don't work well on a portrait.

If there is a photo you really love, but you think it might not be suitable - it's alright, we are ready to assist you anytime! Just use our Free Photo Consultation Service and our professional artists will help you out. It might actually be good enough, so it's worth to try!

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You can consult with our professional artists on any concerns you've got about your photo using our Free Photo Consultation Service.

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Yup, you can! It is actually very common to do so. You simply submit separate reference photos and have them combined together into a single portrait. We could even paint you next to your favourite movie-character. Get creative!

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The preferred file types for receiving your photos are .JPEG, .PNG, .BMP, or .TIFF. We suggest sending the highest resolution and quality photo available, no matter how big the file is. The better the quality of the original photo, the better the results will be.

Remember that we can only paint what we see on the photo provided by you. It is therefore important to provide a good quality photo with high resolution. Since Facebook for example reduces quality of pictures significantly, please don't download photos from social media if you have the original file.

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Although we acknowledge that you could have some fairly distant memories you'd like to get painted or you might simply love the traditional film camera, we ourselves prefer to work with digital media. Therefore, we would kindly ask you to scan your printed photo so you could send it to us as a file.

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The size of the portraits may vary up to a maximum size of 50x65 cm (20x25 inches) depending on the reference photos. As a rule of thumb, our artists will draw paintings whereby the head/shoulders of the subjects are real-life-sized.



CUSTOMISING and EDITING

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The best medium to choose is, above all, a matter of personal taste. Our most popular medium is Black and White pastel. The unique thing about the Black & White technique is that it really well reflects the mood and person's true personality (or pet's cuteness!). However, for pets the Colour medium is preferred among our customers.

After all, it is up to you to decide which one you like the most. Explore our galleries for inspiration and choose what fits you.

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We have rarely painted more than five subjects in a portrait through our 25 years of experience, but this doesn’t mean that mean it’s impossible to get a portrait of a larger number of people. We currently offer portraits of up to 8 subjects! However, smaller groups look better painted rather than bigger ones since the maximum portrait size is 50x65 cm (20x25 inches).

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Yes indeed! It's your personal portrait. To make sure you get what you want, we will share your finished artwork online with you to review and approve. This enables you to make small tweaks and correct any mistaken interpretations of your order. Even tho most of our customers are happy with their first preview, if you feel that any modifications should be made, we receive your feedback, make the requested modifications and send it back to you for confirmation. Only then the custom painting is sent to you.

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No, we don't charge extra. All modifications are free of charge. However, it will be considerably harder to make those changes once the final version of the portrait has been agreed by you so please request modifications on time.

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Yup, you have the full freedom of personalising your masterpiece. You could request things such as: Draw me from the 1st picture, but use the 2nd one as a reference for my hairstyle; Don't draw that scar over there, etc. Personalised art is about getting creative and making the painting 100% yours!



PAYMENT and SHIPPING

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The price for a painting of one subject is €275. Each following subject is priced at €110.

View pricelist

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You can securely pay with either PayPal or credit/debit card.

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We offer free shipping worldwide.

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Your masterpiece will be packaged carefully and shipped to you in a secure custom-made box. If the shipping destination is within Europe it will be delivered via courier (Speedy). Otherwise it will be delivered via post.

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We closely inspect all of our paintings before sending them and use the trusted courier services to handle them on route to you. If a painting, however, does arrive in anything less than immaculate condition then we do encourage you to contact us without delay so that we can resolve this for you. Take a photo of any damage which has occurred and send this to us along with a brief description of the issue using our Contacts form. We will try and respond to your inquiry within 24 hours and should the painting be faulty will request that you return the damaged product to us and happily either fix the damaged portrait or craft a new one for you.



OTHER

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Sometimes we do use the photos and finished paintings on our Facebook and Instagram, on our website, newsletter and other marketing artwork because it helps us inspire and show others the ways they can use MasterpieceDirect. If you would rather we didn't use your photo and/or painting however, simply notify us and we won’t use it. Just use our Contacts form.

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Yes, your private information is protected. All the information gathered through our secure server will be used solely to process your orders. Here is our Privacy Policy.




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MasterpieceDirect is operated as an independent sole trader business from Albena, Bulgaria.
Made withiby Anny & Miro's two sons.