Getting a portrait made from a photo in Bengaluru

Each extra face adds to the price. On Rattan's canvases a second face adds ₹500 at 6x8, up to ₹2,000 at 16x20. On a pencil sketch at one online studio it adds ₹1,000 at A4 and ₹1,500 at A3. Ask whether a pet counts as a face.

Cheaper still. An AI app gives a photo a sketch look in a minute, but nobody draws it, and you still print and frame it. An art student or a sketch artist at a fair may charge less. Rattan's pieces with no detailed faces, like the disc above, go up to ₹2,500 for two people at 8x10.

Our artists at the lower price. Rattan charges this price, and she starts at ₹2,500 for one face at 6x8. Dr Shravan lists a colour portrait at A3, about this size, for ₹3,200. His list doesn't say which paint, and he works in colour pencil, acrylic and oil, so ask whether that price is for paint on canvas. At the higher price, none of our Bengaluru artists has given us a price for this painting.

For a pencil sketch, the prices sit closer. One face in black and white on A3:

Ask each for three portraits of ordinary people, with the photo each was drawn from (question 8).

A bigger canvas costs more because there's more to paint. Rattan's 16x20 has more than six times the canvas of her 6x8, and costs ₹6,000 against ₹2,500 for one face. After her first big one, she wrote:

• Pencil costs least and can reach you within a week at A4 (question 7). It suits one or two faces.
• Charcoal costs about a fifth more than pencil at the same size at one studio, and the same at another. It gives deeper blacks but smudges at a touch, so it needs a fixing spray and glass over it.
• Colour on paper costs more than pencil: ₹3,200 to ₹4,500 at A3 from two sellers (question 1). Dr Shravan works in colour pencil, acrylic and oil.
• Acrylic on canvas is what Rattan paints, from ₹2,500 for one face at 6x8.
• Oil costs the same as acrylic at the one studio we read that offers both: ₹8,870 for one face at 12x16. Thin oil paint takes 2 to 12 days to dry to the touch, so ask how it will be packed.
• Thread or string art: neither Bengaluru artist here makes it, and we found no price for it. It's usually priced by size and how long the threading takes, so ask for a price at your size.

What size. Over a sofa, 16x20 inches or bigger. On a shelf, 6x8 to 8x10. Most of Rattan's commissions are 5x7 to 10x12, and she prices anything bigger than 16x20 on request.

Prints and frames. The studio, PixelArtIndia in HSR Layout, adds a matt, satin, vinyl, wood or canvas print, or a frame, from A6 to A0, for one to three faces. Ask for the total with the one you want. A print comes free by Speed Post with no date, or by courier on the 4th to 6th day.

Live at a party. Two Bengaluru caricature artists publish a price:

Rattan doesn't draw live portraits, only quick doodles of about five minutes.

A big group, like a farewell for 20. No one here lists a group price. A digital artist usually prices a group by the number of faces, so ask for the price per face and the number of rounds of changes, in writing. Send each person's clearest photo (question 5).

How exaggerated. Caricature can mean a big head on a normal body, or a real joke about someone's looks. Look at the artist's past caricatures, and tell them what's off limits before they start.

• Natural light rather than flash. People from different photos need the same kind of light.
• A small, blurry or harshly lit photo makes the artist guess, and strong outdoor shadows change the shape of a face. In a group shot, ears and hair cut off by the next person are lost.
• A photo forwarded on WhatsApp is shrunk. Ask whoever took it for the original.
• One US-based online studio restores a poor photo first and has you approve it before the drawing starts.

An old, faded print. Photograph it flat in daylight, with no glare on it, or have it scanned. Rattan has painted a man with his grandfather from a very old photo.

Wanting them as they were. If you want him as he looked before he fell ill, send a photo from then. Asking the artist to change a face, take off glasses or swap clothes is extra work and can cost more.

A bigger group. Each face after two adds ₹800 at Rattan's. One US-based online studio takes up to 15 photos for one group.

Someone who has passed away. Often there's only one old photo. Send the clearest one of that face, even if it's small, and another for the clothes or the pose if you want them different. The risk is that they look pasted in, with different light, size or age to everyone else, so the sketch stage matters most here (question 8).

If you need it sooner, three of them do a rush:

Four to six weeks leaves time for one round of changes and the courier. Rattan opens her slots in batches, so ask her early.

The advance, and what you see first. Neither Bengaluru artist states an advance, so ask each what they take and whether you get it back. Usually you pay part up front and the rest before it ships: the online studios below ask for a small advance to half.

Changes. PortraitFlip, a US-based studio, says changes are unlimited and free while it edits and paints. Kalakari's pages say minor refinements after the preview in one place and revisions until you're satisfied in another. Ask for the number in writing, and what a change after it's finished costs.

Past work. Look for ordinary faces with the photo beside them, and pieces like yours: the same number of faces, the same medium. Rattan traces the outline from your photo for the proportions, and the rest is the artist's eye:

If it never comes. If an artist takes the advance and doesn't deliver, you can complain to the district consumer commission under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, online on e-Daakhil. Keep the order, the photo you sent, the approved preview, the receipts and the messages.

• Charcoal and pastel go behind glass. Glass reflects, so hang it away from a window.
• A big framed piece may not fit in an auto. Collect it by car, or ask the framer to deliver.
• If it comes by courier, photograph the parcel before you open it, and ask before you pay what the seller does if the glass arrives broken.