live guest portraits blog

Have you heard about this new trend, Live guest portraits?

Live guest portraits explained...

Live guest portrait painting is a fun and personal way to entertain your guests while giving them a special keepsake to remember your event.

A skilled artist sets up at your celebration and paints quick, custom portraits of your guests in a few minutes. Each portrait is a unique, hand-painted artwork that guests can take home, creating a memorable and personal touch. You can even add your event details to each painting, perfect for marketing opportunities.

It’s a charming way to add interactive entertainment and a delightful gift, ensuring your event is as unforgettable as the art itself!

The process of live guest portraits

Questions we get asked a lot are; will our guests need to stand there to pose for their live guest portraits? the answer is no. 

There are in fact, many painters around the world who prefer to have their guests pose for a few minutes while they paint the portrait, but our process is a little different. 

We understand that everyones enjoying the party and to pose for 10 or so minutes can really dampen the mood. We also like to get most of your guests painted, so we do it in a less interactive way. 

  • Firstly, when we arrive at the event, we will go around for about 10 minutes and approach a few couples to get their portraits. We do this by taking a quick photo, adding their name to the list and finding the next couple. 
  • Once we have around 10, we will head back to our table to begin painting, while the ceremony takes places. If a corporate event, we just head back and start painting. 
  • This gives us something to do and intrigues the guests, and eventually we’ll get more guests coming up to get their own portraits. 
  • Some of our artists paint a few at a time, some paint up to 10, creating a sort of conveyor belt as others dry. (joys of watercolour right!!)
  • Once the portrait is complete, we pop it in a cellophane sleeve and display it on the rack on our table. 
  • It is now ready to collect by the guest at any point of the night. 
  • It does depending on artist, but we aim to get through between 8-12 guests per hour. 

It’s as easy as that! So your guests can pose for a quick snap, head back to the party and come and grab their portrait once it’s done. Of course, you are more than welcome to stay and watch, even record a few snaps on your phone… airdropping to us gives you extra brownie points!! 

Meet our artist - Poppy

Poppy is one of our talented painters who creates Live Guest Portraits.

She has her own business, iampoppy Designs and also works with the Live Artist Collective on live events around Australia. 

She has a very illustrative style using watercolours, ink pens and pencil. even though there is a  simplicity to her paintings, they still represent and capture each guest, so there are recognisable not just by their outfits, but their features as well. 

Her favourite guests to paint are ones in bright dresses, without florals (cos let’s face it, those are HARD!). 

“I love the interaction from the guests, nothing beats it! When they hover around the table, looking through all the portraits of their friends and then find their own, that reaction is priceless and really motivates me all night.”

Poppy has worked with some major brands including Camilla, JAG, The Star Casino, Gold Coast Airport. 

meet the artist - Poppy
Live guest portraits - Gabbinbar

Erin and Evan

Hey Poppy, Just wanted to say thank you again for your wonderful work the guests absolutely loved them!