Silhouette Portraits

July 2008

I'm trying to find someone to do an old-fashioned black silhouette portrait of my preschooler. I have one of my mom as a young child, and one of me, and i'd like to have the third generation done. I know there are caricaturists at Pier 39 and the Santa Cruz boardwalk and other tourists spots, but I can't seem to find someone who does silhouettes. I'm looking specifically for the black paper cut-out kind that outlines a person's profile, and I want it to be small, maybe 4''x4''. Thanks Julie

This guy was pretty highly reviewed in a magazine this year: http://www.cutarts.com/index.php I kept his info because I think it looks pretty neat and I plan on using him sometime (I haven't yet...) Love the Silhouettes!

Well, if you can get your child to sit still long enough (ha!), you can do it easily yourself: Pose him in front of a piece of white paper hung on the wall, shine a bright light on him, and trace around the shadow, then use your tracing as a template to cut a silhouette out of black paper.

If you prefer to have someone else do the work, I saw this place (in Atlanta, but they work over the web) on HGTV the other night: http://beegoodstudio.com/. You email them a high-res profile photo of your child (or whatever) and they produce a cut-out. They have lots of nice options. Crafty Mama

When we were in LA and visited Disneyland I was surprised by the skilled silhouette artist I saw working there. The silhouette was done by cutting black paper and putting it in front of light paper. There was a kind of corny looking option (with a silhouette of Mickey Mouse next to the child) but there was also a regular shadow portrait option which looked very old-fashioned and sweet. Katita

At first I could only think of getting the silhouette portraits in disneyland and then I came across this today. CHeck out this link they not only do silhouette portraits but also these great Andy Worhall prints. Hope this works for you!!! http://www.allpopart.com/samples_gallery.php?browse_by=subject=11 I want a print too!!!

Sept 2004

Hi! I'd like to find a service that does shadow profile portraits (don't know what it's really called). I haven't seen them in homes for a while but they were really popular about 20- 30 years ago. Basically, the child's head is in profile, but the profile is basically a cut-out from white board placed over a black background. Thank you! laura

Try: http://www.cutarts.com/
Helena