Instagram users have been able to print their photos in a variety of ways for a while, but a new startup wants to let them turn their pictures into actual oil paintings.
The company, Pixelist, works with a group of Chinese artists living in Xiamen, Fujian, to turn Instagram photos into handcrafted artwork. There are no machines involved, just real painters making real paintings.
The way it works is simple: Pick an Instagram photo and send it over. The artists paint it and send it back.
Pixelist recently launched an IndieGoGo campaign to get its initial funding and start selling the product. For $110, you can get a 12"x12" oil painting of an Instagram photo with roughly two main forms (human, animal, object, etc). Painting sizes can get as large as 6'x6' (with up to 10 forms).
Pixelist isn't for every photo, but it's one of the coolest ways to get a physical version of your Instagrams that we've seen in awhile.
This example shows the Instagram on the left and the Pixelist painting on the right with a closeup of the painting underneath.
Founders Will Freeman and Conor Colwell lived in Hong Kong as they developed the concept.
They spent months searching for the right artists to get the right price and quality to appeal to Instagram users.
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