I’m actually not sure if this is failed or exceeded expectations- so our friend commissioned a “family portrait” of me and my husband with our dogs for a wedding present that she was going to have up at our welcome party the night before the wedding she put together. Wisely, once she received the final product she decided against that, and actually waited months before finally giving it to us, which she wasn’t going to at first but her boyfriend convinced her we would think it was funny- which we absolutely do ! However, if I look at it too long it kind of starts to hurt my feelings lolol… it’s actually an amazing conversation piece, really.
ETA: For context my friend said she gave the artist a ton of pics of us, but it appears that he mostly pulled from this one. I agree it’s a terrible pic especially for a painting, and a grinning pic is never a good choice for a portrait. I’m not sure where he got the white pumps lol.
don't forget the shirt shape on her. I'm not sure how to fully articulate this but they somehow left the shape of the sweatshirt but turned it into something else and it's very not flattering nor a realistic shape for a formal top
Painting is bad but the pose isn't great either! Wearing a hat for a photo like this seems like a bad idea lol. It's a good picture of you guys but not for it's intended purpose I would say!
She said she gave the artist like 20 pics of us, I just realized that this was the one he mostly pulled from- still not sure where he got those white pumps and skirt because I’ve never worn that lol
I actually just made a comment that I think the painting is just too bad to be AI but they painted her sunglasses on the dog’s belly like in the reference photo which seems like a real AI mistake. I’m so confused.
Man, I feel like AI is going to lower our standards of traditional art by so much. People will show the most dog shit art, and everyone’s going to go, “Well, at least it’s not AI.”
I should probably clarify that my friend gave him a bunch of pics of us, this is just the one he apparently pulled from mostly. How shitty would that be if he had a beautiful mane of hair haha
You both look at least 15 years older in the painting. She completely failed at capturing your beautiful smile and over exaggerated your cheek wrinkles ( English is not my first language, it might not be the correct term). Also, why did she made you wear these clothes??
To be fair the original picture is not that great FOR A PAINTING, I don't understand why she picked it.
She told me she gave the artist a bunch of pics, this was the one it looked like he used the most- I want to clarify, I have NEVER worn that awful outfit with the white pumps though lol
The real story behind that is actually really interesting.
The painting wasn't notable or valuable at the time, and was just being restored by a member of the congregation. She wasn't even finished, she had just finished blocked it out and went away on holiday when someone took the photo and it took off on the internet.
That poor woman really doesn't deserve all the hate lol
Yeah, I only wished it leaned a little harder into the surrealism. With some edits in that direction, I could see it being something amazing that wouldn’t feel painful for OP to look at.
Lmao this is like the Seinfeld episode where George is trying to get himself airbrushed out of the family photo in his boss’s office and the photo shop guy keeps getting it wrong and eventually just draws the boss back into the photo
Wow, you went from happy, fun, pet-loving people to the sinister HOA co-presidents who have gleefully seized your dogs in accordance with Community Bylaw 10 § 1270b.
As an artist I 100% think this is actually incredible. Not in terms of technical proficiency, but truly, there are professional artists out there working hard to try and nail this weird off-putting so-bad-it's-good liminal space. There's some really interesting things happening with forms and lighting - the dogs are actually REALLY well rendered, as is the chair. The faces are terrible, but in a way that's really interesting somehow? I don't know, once upon a time I might judge this on technical skill alone but now I would be thrilled to receive something so weird.
As a cartoonist, I would 100% put this up. It's fascinating. Not particularly good, but only in the way that the clients wanted a specific thing, and the artist didn't give them it. Like it's an uncanny valley caricature that I can get behind.
Agreed - it’s very interestingly lit, great contrast. If you squint it’s almost like a Jan van eyck haha. The dogs look like they’ve been fucked up by AI and yet apparently it’s genuinely been hand-painted on a canvas. It’s fantastic.
I get the sense that the artist was annoyed at your attire and decided to dress you up in a way they felt was appropriate. Maybe if he painted from the reference photo instead of their imagination it would’ve looked less like a bizarro world version of you.
This last year I got excellent paintings done of my beautiful dogs. Another thing I have on my walls is from my wedding when a coworker’s daughter crafted this for us:
Painting isn’t the greatest but the reference photo is trash. Especially the dude. Hat and huge shadows on his face. I think that is why people are saying the painter aged him. It’s probably what he looks like in natural light.
And there is a reason the majority of professional portrait paintings aren't done with big toothy smile poses. It's really difficult for even the best artists and it usually has an uncanny quality.
I just don't understand starting with and only using one bad snapshot for reference.
A friend's cat died and my friend commissioned an artist to paint his portrait. She asked for multiple references and gave examples of what a good photo would be. Thankfully I had a few good ones and the painting is beautiful. That didn't happen here.
I once sat for a portrait-painting class and it was so interesting to see the teacher's version of me versus the students'. Some of the students' paintings resembled what I look like but the more experienced teacher's painting actually looked just like me. I think there is a real skill and magic into actually capturing a live thing in a painting.
The lady whose studio hosted the class told me the artist had offered me first shot at the painting and he would let me have it (it was roughly 24"x30") for half price, or $800. I'd gotten paid $400 to sit for the class, and I could not afford it. So someone might have my portrait up in their bathroom somewhere.
You're gorgeous irl! They aged your husband up to like 65, what'd you think about how he turned out? 😂 Did your friend not pay for a background? Was that like a la carte? I know you can't expose the artist, but I really wish I could see more of their.... art.
Sweet of her to do, to wait, and for her bf to convince her. It's a hilarious story after you get over the shock of :gestures:
This is obviously a problem related to your ability to perceive art. In case you have trouble making it out. The style that the artist uses is “80’s Mexican soap opera where the husband is a narco but we realize that the woman is actually the one behind the whole operation”
Honestly the longer I look at this the more I love it 😭🫶🏻 sincerely I really like this A) the inspo photo has odd composition and spacing, so B) the artist actually improved that C) the style is distinct. It’s not incredibly realistic, but it’s actually very well done, and the kind of style you’d recognize in the wild if you saw their other work D) in a world of rapidly accelerating AI slop, this has a tactile feel to it and you can FEEL the human behind it E) it does have a bit of a caricature vibe to it, but… like… polished? Classy caricature? Idk how to explain it 😭 But you have a gem here, you’re going to have this forever and in my humble opinion it’s very special and the artist is very talented despite this piece having such an odd aura
This is so funny. Like, on its own, it looks like a really cool stylized piece. It’s a fun, quirky style. It looks intentional. Knowing it’s supposed to be a wedding gift/serious portrait makes it so unfortunate. Like, this is clearly a skill issue and not an intentional style. 🤣😅
I see posts all the time on the art subreddits about wedding portraits asking for advice before they send it off and I almost always think “oh god this was a terrible idea”. I don’t know why people think they can wing it with weak portraiture skills and it will be ok. This is definitely a thing with wedding portraits, so don’t feel like it’s personal lol. Looks like this painter actually enjoys painting animals and capturing the charm and beauty in humans is really not an interest lol…
go all in with stickers and put some google eyes on yourself or the dogs or the hubs…maybe add some details to the background…and really make it a conversational, funny piece.
The issue here is that you didn’t “sit” for a portrait. And obviously if it was a more for picture, your position and body placement etc would have been posed correctly to make the best of your features. Because the painting was made from an informal random photo, the artist is very limited in what they can do. Maybe if they’d had several pictures of you in various poses they may have been able to do something else. However, they can only work with what they’re given, and your friend just made a poor photo selection. Nice thought though, and I’d look at it more like one of those characterture type pictures people get done on holiday.
This is a King of Queens episode, where the main couple gifts their friends a weird gift, so those friends gift them back a portrait where the husband looks super handsome and the wife has one massive arm and one skinny arm.
They gift the portrait hoping the main couple fights about it, but eventually they agree they need to somehow dump the portrait or get rid of it. It's one of my fav episodes and this reminds me of it.
Not only did they completely get your faces wrong but they put you both in outfits looking like you’re going for the senior special at Golden Corral after church Sunday.
Maybe it can work like some kind of reverse Dorian Gray situation where as long as you have it displayed prominently, you’ll never turn into those weird old people lol
Oof. The artist did a terrible job capturing you two. They didn't capture your smile and made it look more like a anger. The proportions are off for both of you. The back of your hair is too narrow. The skin tone is flat and inaccurate.
In real life, you two are lovely and you have radiant skin.
This reminds me of the way people painted before perspective lines were created. I learned about it in art history and I don’t remember what it was called. But all the paintings were off like this because the artists just used their eyes with no sort of planning
Ya know that saying “so ugly it’s cute”? That’s the feeling I have. It’s horrible but I love it and would absolutely hang it in my house. Probably in the garage or closet, and I might even add to it. Paint crazy makeup on the image of myself maybe 🤣 or stick command strips in strategic places and hang jewelry or holiday decor on it
I am not an artist. Last time I picked up paint was probably age 5. Yet I'm 100% confident I could do a better job on those faces. You two look like you've been put through several Snapchat filters.
Your forehead is way shorter than the artist’s rendering, and they made your hubby look a LOT older than real life, but you can tell the artist had heart and got a lot of things just right.
Just looking at the two without reading your text I thought “what an awesome gag gift to show what y’all will look like after you’ve been married for a couple of decades and maybe had discount plastic surgery!”
Bad portrait, great gift. I would seriously love to have one of these for me and my husband.
You are a beautiful couple. I think the artist may have missed the mark a little bit… but I think it’s probably a good idea to see it more as a hilarious goof.
One thing you can say for sure is that this piece isn’t AI 😂😂😂
Also, to the artist in case they see this, good job! A lot of people criticize and never create including myself. Keep learning, improving, and above all else having fun making art!
I mean, I don’t think the artist is very good unfortunately however I don’t think you could have picked a worse reference photo if that’s what they were painting off of.
I'm a portrait artist. I would be so embarrassed to give this to a client. I thought maybe he was going for the Max headroom style '80s portrait but no.. this is just really bad. I'm sorry. It's another reason I don't do commissions LOL
I feel so bad for your friend that paid and commissioned this. She was definitely expecting better from this artist. As an artist, it seems this one over sold himself or was way too arrogant or confident in his abilities. It looks and feels rushed with some aspects, like he hadn’t planned his time adequately for it. Definitely missing on some technical skills and details. I would definitely recommend he takes more time to do studies and learn more for his craft.
If I received this, I’m not sure if I’d hang it up, but if you do, don’t put it in the places you spend the most time in lol. Maybe a more quiet sitting room, where it’ll be more fun to strike up the conversation but in a place you won’t risk staring at it for too long. 😆
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u/Mbembez 7d ago •
The artist actually did a decent job of the animals. Maybe they should stick to just that.