What a custom pet portrait costs, and what drives the price

A custom pet portrait can be a C$29 file on your phone or a painting that took an artist many days. Both are called a pet portrait, and both can be the right choice. This page explains what drives the price, so you can tell what you are paying for: the method, the hours, the edition, the size, the paper and the extra charges at checkout. It ends with Purrealism's own prices. The main buyer's guide covers every other step of buying a portrait.

The method sets most of the price

There are two main ways to make a pet portrait from your photo. A person can paint or draw it by hand, or software can paint it with AI. The page on AI and hand-painted pet portraits compares the two in detail. For price, one difference matters most: time.

Hand painting is priced by the hour

A hand-painted portrait carries the artist's hours. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the US government office that measures jobs and wages, groups painters with other craft and fine artists. It gives a median wage of US$26.58 an hour, or US$55,290 a year, for that group in May 2025. For fine artists, including painters, sculptors and illustrators, the median was US$55,490 a year. The median is the middle figure: half earn more and half earn less.

The same BLS page says 58 percent of craft and fine artists are self-employed, and that some of their work is commissioned, which means a buyer asks for it before it is made. A self-employed painter sets a price that pays for the hours, the materials, the studio and the time spent talking with the buyer.

The paint also affects the hours. Tate, the British national art gallery, describes oil paint as a slow-drying paint. A thin layer is dry to the touch in a few days, thicker layers take longer, and the paint keeps hardening for decades. An oil painter who builds a portrait in layers waits between them. Tate describes acrylic paint as water-based and fast-drying, so an acrylic portrait can move from layer to layer sooner. Watercolour on paper dries faster still. Each choice changes the calendar time, and the calendar time is part of what you pay for.

AI painting is priced by the product

An AI portrait has no painting hours. Software paints it from your photo in the style you pick. Its price comes from the business that runs the software and from what you receive: a digital file, a printed copy, or both. That is why AI portraits usually cost a fraction of a hand-painted one of the same size.

The edition: a file or a print

The edition is the form you keep the portrait in. A digital file costs the least, because nothing is printed or shipped. A print adds paper, ink, a printer, packaging and delivery. The page on digital and printed pet portraits explains what you get with each one and who each suits.

Size and paper

For a print, size is the biggest price step after the edition. A larger print uses more paper and more ink, and it needs a wider printer and a larger box. The table shows the paper area of the four print sizes Purrealism offers, with the matte price for each.

The price grows more slowly than the paper. The 24 × 36 inch print has 10.8 times the paper of the 8 × 10 inch print and costs 3.57 times as much. Part of every price covers work that is the same at any size, such as preparing the file and packing the order.

The paper surface changes the price too. Purrealism prints on matte or glossy paper, and glossy costs C$10 more at every size. The guide to matte and glossy paper explains how the two surfaces differ.

If you are unsure which size suits your wall, the article on how big an 8 × 10 print is shows each size in real terms.

Frames, extra animals and other choices

Some prices grow with choices made before or after the portrait itself:

• A frame. A frame, a mat and glass add their own cost. Purrealism sends prints without a frame, so you choose and pay for the frame yourself. The guide to framing and hanging covers frames, mats and glass.
• More than one animal. A painter who paints two pets spends more hours, so a portrait of two or three animals usually costs more. A Purrealism portrait starts from one photo of your pet.
• Changes after a first draft. A painter may charge for changes once the painting has started, since each change takes time.
• Canvas. Canvas is a woven cloth support. A canvas print is a different product from a paper print, and the page on canvas and paper prints compares them.

Tax, shipping and the total you pay

The price on a product page and the amount on your card can differ. Two things make the gap: tax and fees.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the US consumer protection agency, advises shoppers to learn the total cost of a product, including shipping, handling, delivery, taxes and other fees, before buying. In Canada, the Competition Bureau, the federal agency that enforces the law on misleading advertising, says a business may not advertise a price that people cannot actually pay because mandatory fees are added later. The only charges a business may leave out are those set by government on the buyer, such as sales tax. The Bureau calls the practice of adding fees at the end drip pricing.

So, before you pay for any portrait:

1. Look for the full price of the edition and size you want.
2. Check whether shipping is included or added.
3. Expect sales tax to be added at payment in most places.
4. If the shop shows prices in another currency, check what your card will be charged in your own.

What a portrait costs at Purrealism

Purrealism paints royal portraits of dogs and cats with AI, from one photo, in one of 15 styles. The prices below come from the site's price list. They are in Canadian dollars, before tax.

What each price includes:

• One free try. Your first portrait is painted free in the portrait studio, so you see your own pet in a royal style before you pay anything.
• The digital pack. A high-resolution download with no watermark. It also unlocks unlimited portrait tries in every style, in the browser you pay from.
• Prints. The portrait printed on matte or glossy paper and shipped to the address you give at checkout. Shipping is free.
• Tax. Added on the payment page.
• Currency. The payment page shows the total in your own currency in most countries, and you can pay in it. You can also choose to pay in Canadian dollars.

The pricing page shows the same list, with your local currency where the site can show it. Whatever you buy, compare the full amount on the payment page with the price you expected, and keep a copy of your order.