Custom Animal and Wildlife Paintings: Lions, Elephants, Birds, Highland Cows

We paint animals and wildlife by hand, to order, from your own photo or from one of our catalog designs. Oil or acrylic on canvas, your choice. Nothing is printed. Any size, from 24 by 20 inches to 80 by 60 inches and larger. One to five pieces take 7 to 10 business days. There is no minimum order. Nothing leaves our studio until you have seen photos of the finished canvas and said yes.

Animals we paint

Most requests start with a photo someone took themselves. A lion in the shade on safari. An elephant crossing a dry riverbed. A highland cow with wet hair over its eyes. A cardinal on the feeder outside the kitchen window. We paint all of them, plus giraffes, zebras, deer, bears, foxes, birds of every kind, cattle, sheep, goats and whole farmyard scenes.

Our own animal and wildlife collection has 12 designs. It leans toward birds, horses, sea life and cats in loose, colorful and minimalist styles, and every design can be resized or recolored. For a lion, elephant, deer or highland cow, the usual path is a commission from your photo, painted at the same rate as a catalog design.

From your own safari, farm or backyard photo

Send the photo you have. Phone photos work well when the animal fills a good part of the frame and the light is decent. Our painters use the photo for pose, markings and expression, then paint the rest by hand. If your best shot is a little blurry, add a sharper photo of the same kind of animal.

Two animals from different photos

Yes, we combine photos. A common request is two elephants seen on different days, or a lion and a lioness, placed into one scene. Tell us which animal goes where and roughly how big each should be, and we build the composition.

Changing the background

The background is up to you. Keep the real savanna, swap it for a sunset sky, or set the animal against a plain neutral ground in cream, warm gray or charcoal. We can also lift the light, or warm or cool the colors to match your walls. For a home or hotel in Lagos, Nairobi or Accra, our page on art for African homes shows what else we paint for those rooms.

Realistic or painterly, your call

The easiest way to brief us is to point at a catalog piece and say “this look, but with my elephant.” We also paint softer, simplified animals for a nursery.

Sizes and sets that suit animal art

Any size. We offer 60 standard sizes from 24 by 20 inches up to 80 by 60 inches, plus sets of two and three. If your wall needs something else, we paint to your measurements at the same rate. Larger single canvases beyond 80 by 60 inches are quoted case by case.

• A square highland cow for a farmhouse kitchen. Square puts the face front and center.
• A wide savanna over the sofa. A long horizontal canvas gives a herd or a lone giraffe room to breathe.
• A trio for a hallway or nursery. Lion, giraffe and zebra as three matching canvases in the same size and palette.

Sets are painted together by the same hands so the style, ground color and brushwork match. See multi-panel paintings for how matched sets work.

Oil or acrylic, texture and finishes

You choose the medium. Oil gives deep color and soft blending in fur and feathers. Acrylic dries faster and keeps edges crisp, which suits flat, graphic animal designs. Both go on premium linen canvas.

Finishes are rolled in a tube, stretched on solid wood bars, or framed in black, white, wood, silver or gold. All five frame colors cost the same. Heavy texture ships stretched or framed, because rolling thick impasto is not recommended.

Timeline, progress photos and approval

1. Send your photo or catalog pick, the size, the medium and the finish through the quote form.
2. Confirm the quote and pay the usual 50 percent deposit by wire, PayPal or card.
3. Watch progress photos during painting. Ask for a change to pose, background or color while the paint is wet.
4. Approve photos of the finished canvas. Nothing ships until you say yes.
5. Pay the balance and the piece is released for collection.

Production is 7 to 10 business days for 1 to 5 pieces, 10 to 15 for 6 to 20, and 15 to 20 for 21 to 50. Canvases 36 by 48 inches and larger, heavy texture and sets sit at the top of their band, because thick paint has to dry between layers, and oil takes longer still. If a piece has a defect that is our fault, we repaint it at our cost.

Wildlife art for lodges, hotels, restaurants and offices

A safari lodge with 25 rooms can order 25 different wildlife pieces in mixed sizes as one job. Mixed designs and sizes count together, so 25 pieces get the 21-piece rate. There is no minimum, and trade pricing starts from one piece. For a first order or a big project we paint a sample, and its cost is credited back on any order of 10 pieces or more.

Rolled canvas is the cheapest way to ship an order of about 20 pieces or more. Full terms are on our trade page.

Good fit

• Lodges, camps and hotels that want local species in every room
• Farmhouse, ranch and country home decor
• Interior designers matching animal art to a color scheme
• Restaurants and offices that need one large statement wall
• Parents who want a matched animal set for a nursery

Not a fit

• Copies of a named living wildlife artist’s work
• Printed or giclee canvas. We only paint by hand
• Delivery in under 7 business days
• Painting from a stock or magazine photo you do not hold rights to

Shipping a large wildlife canvas, and duty

Delivery is EXW our Shenzhen studio, and freight is quoted separately at cost. Express by FedEx or DHL takes 5 to 10 business days and suits one to a few pieces. Sea freight takes 25 to 40 days and makes sense for a lodge order of stretched or framed pieces in a wooden crate. We confirm the crate count before transport is booked. Air freight, CIF and DDP are available on request.

Paintings executed entirely by hand fall under HTS 9701, which carries a free base rate of duty into the United States. Other China-origin measures can apply, so please confirm with a customs broker.

Browse the collection, then send us what you like

Start with the animal and wildlife collection. Three pieces that show the range:

• Soft blue-gray tufted titmouse impressionist painting IA20. One garden bird in thick brushwork on a square canvas. Ask for a cardinal, chickadee or robin in the same style.
• Jewel-tone blue-green peacock duo CA05. Two peacocks on a blossom branch, a natural pick for a tall hallway wall and for Indian homes, where the peacock is the national bird.
• Deep blue surfacing whale IA02. A wide ocean scene for a long sofa or a hotel bed.

Horses have their own horse collection and a custom horse paintings page. For your dog or cat, see custom pet portraits.

Did not find what you like? Send it and we paint it

Our catalog is a starting point, not a limit. Send us the safari photo, the paint chip, the Pinterest board or a rough sketch. We can resize or recolor any catalog design, put your own animal into a catalog composition, or start fresh. Cultural details matter. A cattle painting for an Indian home is painted with respect, never as comic or meat imagery. An elephant with its trunk raised is a sign of luck in many homes, and we pose it that way when you ask.