Portrait Union

Turn your photo into a painting

Photo, subject, style — then watch it painted. The preview is free.

Drop your photo here

Clear face, good light, upright photo with the subjects in the middle. JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 15 MB; HEIC needs converting first.

Every painted portrait is made at 4:5 — an upright rectangle, a little squarer than the 3:4 a phone takes. Your photograph is cropped to the largest 4:5 rectangle in the middle of the frame before painting begins, so a wide photograph loses its sides. The photo guide draws the crop and gives the pixel sizes.

Who is in the photo?

Choose a style

The preview is free — one free preview per day, so choose your photo and style with care. Digital portrait €4.99 · canvas from €69.99. You pay only after you see it.

Add a photo to begin.

Portrait Union paints a portrait from one photo of a pet or a person in twelve styles, using an image model rather than a person at an easel. Upload one JPG, PNG or WebP up to 15 MB, pick a style, and a watermarked preview arrives in under a minute, free, with no account. The watermark-free 2048 × 2560 px file costs €4.99.

The twelve styles

Every style is painted from your photograph, so the face, the pose and the animal stay yours; the style decides the clothes, the setting and the brushwork.

  • A young man in a jewelled gold crown and a crimson velvet robe trimmed with ermine and gold embroidery, painted against a dark gold background in old-master oils.

    Renaissance Royal

    Majestic royal portrait with crown, velvet pillow & golden coat

    About this style
  • A young man in a blue shirt stands surrounded by roses, daisies and lavender, his face and the flowers alike laid on in thick palette-knife strokes.

    Floral Garden

    Thick oil and petals — nestled inside a garden in bloom

  • A young man in a blue T-shirt stands chest-deep in a lavender field at sunset, the low sun edging his hair while the sky above breaks into orange and violet.

    Lavender Field

    Backlit by a low sun, chest-deep in lavender

  • A young man's face in transparent watercolor washes on white paper, his freckles and moustache drawn in with a dry brush over blue and pink blooms.

    Watercolor

    Transparent washes on cotton paper, colour blooming behind them

    About this style
  • A young man in a laurel wreath and a draped white toga holds a scroll between marble columns, a classical temple standing behind him at dusk.

    Greek God

    Divine Olympian deity with toga, laurels & thunderbolts

    About this style
  • A young man in lacquered red and blue samurai armour holds a sword in a paper-screened room, his helmet resting on a stand at his shoulder.

    Samurai Warrior

    Honorable Edo-period warrior with armor & cherry blossoms

    About this style
  • A young man in an open denim jacket drawn in heavy cel-shaded outlines, with palm trees and a city skyline behind him in an orange sunset.

    GTA Style

    Cel-shaded character art in the iconic action-game cover style

    About this style
  • A young man in a white and orange spacesuit and a glass helmet, the edge of the Earth below him and a lit nebula behind, painted in thick oils.

    Astronaut Explorer

    Floating in space with Earth below in a NASA-style suit

  • A young man in a blue jacket painted in swirling Post-Impressionist strokes, with a cypress and a yellow wheatfield behind him under a churning sky.

    Van Gogh Style

    Swirling Post-Impressionist with luminous blues & yellows

    About this style
  • A young man in a black and oxblood velvet doublet hung with silver chains and cameos, candles burning in the gothic hall behind him.

    Gothic Noble

    Deeply dark Gothic aristocrat shrouded in shadow, candlelight & ravens

  • A young man in a black tuxedo and bow tie on a red carpet, photographers and their flashbulbs crowding the velvet rope behind him.

    Hollywood Premiere

    Red-carpet premiere portrait — paparazzi flashes, gold statuette & velvet ropes

  • A young man in a black three-piece suit sits back in a leather armchair with a cigar and a glass of whisky, in a dim wood-panelled room.

    Mafia Boss

    Powerful crime lord in a sharp black suit, cigar smoke & dim lighting

What happens after you upload

The photo is centre-cropped to 4:5, the upright proportion every portrait and every print size shares, so keep the subject near the middle and leave a little room above the head. It is then painted in the style you chose, and in under a minute you see a low-resolution watermarked preview. It lives at a private link that closes 48 hours after upload; no account is made and nothing is published.

Each visitor gets one free photo a day. Painting costs us real money every time it runs, and one honest attempt a day keeps the preview free for everyone rather than metered behind credits. If you keep a file or order a print, the payment is the only thing we ask for.

What it costs

Prices are shown once more beside your preview before anything is charged.

All prices in EUR, one-off; prints include shipping and the digital file.
ProductWhat is includedPrice
Gallery canvasPortraits print at 20×25, 40×50 or 60×75 cm; restorations add the 2:3, 3:4, landscape and square sizes. Shipping and the digital file included.from €69.99
Framed canvasPortraits print at 20×25 or 40×50 cm; restorations add the 2:3, 3:4, landscape and square sizes. Black, Dark brown, Natural wood frame, ready to hang, shipping and the digital file included.from €129.99
Digital portraitOne file, 2048 × 2560 px, without watermark€4.99

Prices shown in EUR. In the UK a digital portrait is £3.99 and a canvas starts at £59.99; in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and Korea they are $4.99 and $79.99. The preview page charges in your own currency automatically.

Which photo works best

  • Upright, with the subject in the middle of the frame.
  • A clear face, in focus, at a reasonable size in the photo.
  • Good light — daylight or a well-lit room, not a dim silhouette.
  • No sunglasses, hats or hands covering the face.
  • One animal per photo, unless you choose pet & person.
  • JPG, PNG or WebP up to 15 MB; HEIC needs converting first.

Quick questions

Is the preview free?

Yes. One photo per visitor per day is painted free, as one low-resolution watermarked preview (400 px of detail). You pay only if you decide to keep a file or order a print.

Do I need an account?

No. There is no sign-up and no password. Your preview lives at a private link that closes 48 hours after upload, and we ask for an email address once — to send you that link — before showing it to you. Nothing else is required and there is no newsletter unless you tick the box.

How long does it take?

Under a minute for the preview. A canvas or framed print takes 3–5 business days to make; allow two to three weeks for it to arrive.

What file do I get?

A 2048 × 2560 px image with no watermark, from €4.99. Prints are made from the same file and include the digital version.

What photo works best?

An upright, well-lit photo with the face in the middle and both eyes visible. The picture is centre-cropped to 4:5 before painting, so a wide shot loses its edges. Avoid heavy backlighting, deep shadow across the face, sunglasses and hands. A phone photo is fine: JPG, PNG or WebP up to 15 MB, HEIC converted first.