Ask if the portrait needs to match another

You may remember that earlier I wrote about keeping a record of the specifics of portraits you do, especially portraits of children (measure the size of the child's image, for example - in case you do another child's portrait for the family and they want them to match).

Well, recently I learned something new. Not only should you measure the art you do for someone, but even if you have a new client for a child's pencil portrait, it's a good idea to be specific about the portrait, to see if they have ever had a pencil portrait done by another artist.
I didn't realize the portrait I was doing was to "match" - at least in size, another pencil portrait the family had done of an older child by another artist!

It wasn't my fault, but I did learn that this might be a good question to ask if the information isn't openly given. Maybe the client thought she had told me. Regardless, they wanted it to match in size, and what I sent was quite a bit larger, image-wise.

In any case, always remember to never berate the client by saying or writing anything like, "you never told me." That sounds huffy. Nobody likes to hear that. It's better to say, "Oh, I'm sorry - I didn't know!" You are communicating about the same thing, but without the accusatory feel to it.

I offered to re-draw it, but they do like the portrait so they are going to keep it. All's well that ends well, but I really wouldn't mind redrawing it, because kids can have issue (get hurt feelings) when a sibling's portrait is larger than their own.