How to commission a portrait drawing?

So what makes a good photograph for a portrait drawing?

The better the photograph, the better the drawing!

First of all there are some technical elements that make a photograph good enough to use for a portrait and these are;

The subject/s are in focus.

The image is of a good enough resolution to show details - a phone camera made in the last few years is good enough

The lighting is not too extreme, so avoid sun shining straight into people’s faces

The subject of the portrait should be looking in the direction of the camera and not at their feet or the sky for instance

But what makes a good photograph for a portrait drawing?

This is dictated by whether the photo captures the character of the person or animal and only you the client will know if this is the case. Often we will see photographs of our loved ones and we will say;’ Oh that’s a good photo of them!’ or ‘ No, that doesn’t really look like them.’

So when you are looking through your photos and you come across one that makes your heart warm with love, and it matches the criteria above then that will be a good photograph to use for a portrait.

In an ideal world I will use one photograph to create the portrait drawing but sometimes I need a little help from other similar images. Whether I use them or not it, is very helpful for me to have a few photos to look at as I draw.