the commissioned portrait where the client sent me a filtered selfie and got mad it didn't look like her
so I took a portrait commission which is already rare for me because I hate doing them, and the reference photo she sends is clearly a facetune situation. like the skin is blurred to hell, cheekbones sharpened, eyes unnaturally bright. I paint it as close to the photo as I can because that's what she gave me.
she picks it up yesterday and goes "this doesn't look like me at all." no shit. you sent me a cartoon version of yourself and I painted the cartoon. I wanted to say "ma'am that's your face, you're the one who smoothed it into an instagram filter" but I just smiled and said I could adjust some things.
I hate portrait work. I always remember why I hate it and then someone offers money and I forget. never again until next time.
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the funny thing is this actually gets at something real about portraiture and the image we have of ourselves. the filtered photo is already a portrait, it's just one she made herself, without admitting that's what she was doing. she wanted you to paint the "real" her, but she sent you the ideal her. and then she saw the two side by side and the gap freaked her out.
I've thought about this a lot with printmaking actually, how many versions of a face can exist and which one we call authentic. the filter is a copy without an original. you can't win because you're painting a thing that doesn't exist anywhere except in her head.
this is a really good point and i hate that it made me feel bad for the client a little lol. "the filter is a copy without an original" is gonna live in my head rent free
yeah you got me feeling sympathy for the client now too which is honestly worse than the original rage lol. but you're right, she saw two versions of herself at once and neither felt like the real one. that's genuinely kind of sad. anyway i still charged her for the adjustments so we're not all the way enlightened over here