The price of your portrait will depend on the size and the style, which directly affect the materials and labour needed, but to give some insight into how prices are determined here is some additional information.

- Materials

Some materials, such as paint/pastel and paper/board, are more expensive than others and a large painting uses much more of these materials than a smaller one. As portraits require high quality materials that will not fade or change over time, the watercolour and pastels used carry a much higher cost than pencil. Similarly, thick, high quality paper or board is needed. For watercolour, the paper must be tough enough to handle all the water and well-made enough to allow for smooth flow of the paint. For pastel, the board must be able to handle the many layers of colour require to capture fur textures. For graphite pencil portraits, the paper must be sturdy enough to handle layers of drawing, and to be high enough quality to last a long time.

- Labour

Whilst watercolour is a much more expensive medium than pencil, it also requires fewer hours of work to create a beautiful portrait; around 6-8 hours for a small painting not including drying times between layers. In watercolour, soft layers and strokes are used to create the illusion of texture, whereas with a realistic pencil drawing each individual strand of fur must be drawn in. As a result, a pencil drawing can take 3 times as long as a watercolour and a pastel drawing may take perhaps 2 times as long as a watercolour for the same reasons. Obviously the time needed to create a portrait increases with the size of the artwork.