Personal Art Blog

Personal Art Portraits

Pictures speak a thousand words, and great pictures make for timeless memories. Personalized portraits are increasingly becoming popular today, with many people opting for these as home décor options. Pictures of individuals, family portraits, children portraits and even portraits of unborn babies can today be created in the pop art style. In this blog we discuss the steps you need to take to create a quality picture for yourself.

Idea of style

An idea of the various styles is a good starting point before getting one done for yourself. In order to check pop art options available, we suggest you browse through online galleries to find something you like. Personal Art offers an extensive library of 21 different pop art variations for you to choose from. Once you find a style that you like, you can take the next step towards translating it for yourself.

A good digital photo

Once you have selected a pop art style, you will next need a good  digital photo to match it. For example, if you want a silhouette portrait, you will need a full length portrait of yourself. If you want a close up like the Warhol style, you will need an expressive photograph to match. Alternatively, if you want an ultrasound portrait, an ultrasound scan of the baby would need to be organized.

Choosing the mediums

You can now decide the medium you want your pop art to be printed upon. Some people like to opt for e-portraits as virtual avatars for their social media requirements. This can work out as a good option for you too. If you want to print it for home décor, decide on the size of the portrait and whether you want it on canvas, wood, ceramic or natural slate. Accessories like cushions, tiles, clocks, key chains, watches and mugs are also good ideas for printing pop art.

Go for it

Once you have identified a quality provider, good mediums and a great photo get your portrait printed. Ask for a preview of the actual pop art and discuss the artwork if you have any reservations regarding the style. It is highly important to have an open communication channel with pop art providers, so that you can get a memorable portrait.

One of the major artistic movements of the 20th Century was the Pop Art Movement. While the term pop art was coined in Britain, somewhere in the 1950s, artists from America took to the cause with a lot of enthusiasm. As a result, this movement ushered in a global change in the way people perceived art across many parts of the world. The main factors governing it were,

Warhol Image

Reaction to Abstract Expressionism

When the culture of abstract art began, many artists felt that it did not relate to the recent. The pop art movement, thus began, as a direct reaction to the culture of abstract expressionism. Where abstract art was more surreal and spontaneous in nature, pop art was more planned and relevant to current times.

Reaction to traditional art

Another distinguishing feature of this movement was that it challenged almost every element of the high-brow art society of those times. It defined that for art to be acceptable across classes, it had to communicate with people and their issues. Elements like street art connected to people and artists like Lichtenstein and Warhol spearheaded the pop art movement with their own unique styles. Also it challenged the premises that art had to be original and could not be reproduced.

Reach to a wider audience

Propaganda Portrait

To make this more accessible to people, artists turned to techniques that could help them reproduce elements or complete pictures quickly and effectively. Stenciling was one element that helped them achieve this. Over time, many other commercial ways of production were devised, ensuring that unlimited copies of art could easily be made. Objects of mass culture like advertisements, popular brands and comic books were soon integrated with art, making them more acceptable to people.

The effect of consumerism

The movement began after the end of the World War II. People had more money to spend, and thus began an era of consumerism. Objects of mass culture like advertisements, brand awareness and comic books soon became popular. And all this translated itself into the art form, making it more acceptable and also more affordable. People took to it as birds taking to air.

Many artists, low threshold levels

For any movement to be successful, the participants in it should be high, while the threshold levels of acceptance, should be low. This movement was blessed with these two elements. The time, place, people and price were right. Many pop art artists participated in the movement, many people liked the art form and with it being affordably priced, it soon became popular. This holds true even today, and the art continues to enjoy a good audience who are ready for new styles that keep emerging with time. New styles evolve faster in popart, giving the audience something fresh and novel all the time. And the Internet ensures easy transmission of these art styles.

Today, you can order art online, right from the comfort of your chair. There are sites offering reproductions or personalized variations just for you. While buying online, remember to exercise prudence. Check the quality of the artwork, the reputation of the seller and compare prices and quality, before picking up one for yourself.

Pop Art Portraits

Once you have purchased pop art, you can display it anywhere you like at your home or office. Securely stretched on to frames or on any other mediums, pop art usually does not require any special cleaning or care. However, in order to ensure that the piece of art you have purchased lives a long, healthy and happy life, here we provide 12 tips of caring for the piece.

1. Do not keep the piece of art in direct sunlight. The sun has a tendency of making objects crack and fade over time. So even if your piece of pop art has a protective layer of varnish on it, over time the sun can cause it to fade, break up or spoil.
2. Store artworks carefully. When you are planning to keep pop art away for storage, ensure that each piece of art is stored separately and is cushioned from accidents. Do not lay paintings on each other as something can break or tear them.
3. Use a clean soft cloth while cleaning your pop art. This protects the buildup of heavy dust on the portrait over time. Also, soft cloths ensure that the portrait is safe and undamaged.
4. Never use cleaning products or water on your portraits. These can damage the portrait beyond repair and also reduce its lifespan.
5. Be careful while transporting pop art. If you plan to take your artworks from one town to another, pack them safely and securely. It is recommended to use bubble-wrap or similar material that cushions it against damage.
6. Avoid extreme changes of temperature and climate. Just like changing seasons can affect our health, pop art can get affected too. Avoid extreme changes of temperature, humidity and dryness, as this can damage the portrait. Avoid displaying portraits on areas immediately around vents, radiators, fireplaces, kitchens and bathrooms.
7. If your pop art is displayed on canvas, do not get it covered with a sheet of glass. Many people make the mistake of doing this. Canvas requires space to breathe, and covering it with glass constricts that space. This in turn will lead to the buildup of fungus and molds.
8. Avoid covering your portraits with a sheet of plastic. If you do so while storing portraits, use a layer of absorbent paper and only then cover it with plastic. Leaving portraits simply with a plastic covering can cause humidity to build up and lead to fungus formations, spoiling the portrait.
9. Do not repair portraits yourself. Damaged pop art portraits will need to be handled by an expert who will use the right products and techniques to minimize damage. Instead of trying to repair portraits yourself, take the help of experts.
10. When displaying portraits on outer walls, use tougher mediums like ceramic tiles. Outer walls are more subject to changes of temperature and humidity and canvas/wood portraits can spoil faster.
11. Do not overuse picture lights. While they draw special attention to portraits, over a period of time, they can cause light damage to the portrait.
12. Protect pop art portraits from natural enemies of water, heat, pollution and insects. Some insects can damage artworks and get your home regularly checked for such bugs.

Caring for art is not a difficult process and with a little information and regular care, your portraits will last for very long. Keeping the do’s and don’ts in mind will help ensure that your portraits look good over the many years of their lifespan.