Portrait

Portraits are in-game paintings any player can purchase at any building or ship with a portrait easel in it. Easels can always be found inside palaces, in the first room to the right. Prices vary depending on the background chosen and the number of people in the portrait, and as they tend to be relatively expensive, portraits serve as a major PoE sink.

A pirate can claim one free portrait from the 'Get yer portrait painted' Mission. Additionally, portraits may be awarded to the winners of scheduled puzzle competitions.

Portraits can be displayed in pirate info pages or viewed in player galleries.

Commissioning a portrait
Clicking on an easel brings up the "set up your portrait" interface, where the pirate is allowed to select the portrait background and pirate arrangement (for expansive backgrounds), and name the portrait. The pirate must then pay the portrait commission cost and doubloon fee (on doubloon oceans) to move on to posing for the portrait. Both the PoE and doubloon prices vary depending on the background and pirate alignment selected (see the background article for details). If the pirate later decides to cancel the portrait, he/she will receive a full refund. Once the portrait commission cost has been paid, the pirate will continue to the "pose for the portrait" interface. Other pirates may now join the portrait by clicking on the same easel (in the case of multiple-pirate backgrounds), and all pirates in the portrait may choose their facial expressions and to hold an item. Pirates may also purchase single-pirate portraits for other pirates by beginning the process and then press the "leave" button - the recipient pirate may take the place in the portrait by clicking on the easel.

Additional prints of the portrait may also be ordered (the cost also depending on the background and alignment, with a fee of 7 doubloons each). Note that by default, all pirates joining the portrait will have 1 additional print selected, provided that they have enough PoE (and doubloons, if on a doubloon ocean) on hand to purchase a copy, and that the number of final portraits produced will be equal to the number of additional prints plus the original portrait itself. Once all the pirates in the portrait select the ready checkbox, the option to generate a preview of the portrait will be enabled. After this, the final painting may be ordered.

After the portrait is created, the commissioning pirate and those who ordered prints will receive a portrait (or more, depending on prints ordered) in the portraits section of their inventory. These items will not decay; nor will framed portraits. They can, however, be trashed.

All portraits in a pirate's inventory can be viewed in that pirate's gallery, which others may access through the pirate's info page, or directly through the URL  http://OCEAN.puzzlepirates.com/yoweb/gallery/?pirate=PIRATE , where OCEAN is the ocean the gallery is in and PIRATE is the name of the pirate. The gallery view of the portrait will show the portrait with its title, the name(s) of the pirate(s) in the portrait, and captions added by the gallery owner. The date the portrait was commissioned, as well as the location of the easel and the governor of the island or pirate at the helm of a ship at sea are also automatically saved and displayed. If the portrait is of a single pirate, a "flip over" link will show the pirate's experience, standings and crew and flag membership at the time the portrait was commissioned.

A pirate may edit his/her gallery through the item menu brought up when selecting a portrait in the booty panel. Here the pirate may add captions to portraits, arrange the order in which they appear, or select one single-pirate portrait of him/herself to be displayed in his/her info page.

Captains may select a portrait to show on their crew's info page. Monarchs may select a portrait to show on their flag's info page. Crew and flag info pages can only display group portraits.

Portrait fees and number of pirates
The cost and number of pirates that may be in a portrait depend on the size of the background. Limited Edition portrait backgrounds are generally single portraits, but there have also been some that were other sizes. The doubloon fee, in addition to the PoE fee, is only charged on doubloon (green) oceans. Subscriber oceans only pay the PoE fee.

There is no background size specifically for three pirates but the expansive size may be used and standing spaces left unfilled.

The current list of the different background sizes and fee information can also be found in the background article.

Backgrounds
The pirate commissioning a portrait may choose from a variety of portrait backgrounds. The background determines how many pirates can be in the portrait and in what arrangement. Note that some two-pirate portrait backgrounds have the pirates standing either face-to-face or back-to-back - in such portraits, the pirate on the left in face-to-face portraits or on the right in back-to-back portraits will be in mirror image to how they usually appear in portraits, including held item, pose and any injuries they may have.

Clothing
When a portrait is commissioned, each pirate is shown in the clothing he or she is currently wearing. (However, portraits cannot be made while the pirate is trying on clothes from a tailor's rack.)  The colors of the clothes are reproduced in the portrait. If the pirate is wearing a familiar, that is also shown.

Skin and hair
The colors of pirates' skin and hair are reproduced in the portrait as well as any injuries.

Held items
A pirate can hold a single portrait item or choose to hold nothing at all. Items are only available if the pirate meets the criteria necessary for it. Some items exist but can only be held by Ocean Masters at this time.

Poses
If a pirate is holding an item, it will usually be in the pirate's right hand, and the left arm will be by the pirate's side or placed in pocket. Some bludgeons require both hands. If no item is chosen, then the pirate's clothing determines the portrait pose.

Facial expressions
The facial expression a pirate is using for the eyes and/or mouth.

Pets
Pirates have the option of including a single pet in their portrait.

Familiars and injuries
Familiars and injuries also show up in portraits. However, familiars and injuries belonging to female pirates, for the most part, look different than those belonging to males.

Disappearing and hidden injuries
Any pirate holding a two-handed bludgeon will always be drawn with two uninjured hands even if they have a hook injury. The female gown completely conceals both feet; this, of course, hides any pegleg injury as well. Likewise, the diving helmet and some masks completely conceal the face and thus any eyepatch or starfish injury.

''Note: Any peg-legged pirate wearing fancy boots will have their pegleg colored in the colors of the boot. Male peg-legged pirates wearing boots with gaiters will have their pegleg colored grey. Female peg-legged pirates wearing curled slippers will have their pegleg colored gold.''

Framing portraits
A pirate may choose to frame a portrait by buying a framed portrait furniture item at a furnisher. When placing an order, the pirate will be required to place the portrait in the ordering interface. The portrait will then be removed from the pirate's inventory, and will no longer be viewable from his/her gallery. The resulting furniture object, when placed in a scene, will provide an option to "view" the portrait, which will directly link to the portrait's page. Note that captions on framed portraits will be cut off after 250 characters.

Free portraits
A pirate can get a free portrait from the 'Get yer portrait painted' mission. This portrait can only have one pirate in it, must use the Sandy background, and cannot feature held items. Additional prints of this portrait cost 5000 PoE and 7 doubloons. Each pirate may commission one free portrait; the free portrait cannot be framed, although any purchased copies can be framed.

Competition portraits
Winners of all scheduled monthly puzzle competitions will be notified that they can claim a free portrait via the Ahoy tab. Clicking the button will paint the portrait immediately, without any prompt to choose options.

The current clothes and familiar (if any) equipped will be included in the portrait, but trinkets will not be included. Items and expressions cannot be chosen, nor can the portrait background. Note that logging off without clicking on the button will cause the pirate to be painted as they appeared when they logged off, and the portrait will still appear in the gallery.

Historical notes
In, monkeys in male portraits were modified so that their arm no longer passed through their pirate's head if he was wearing certain clothing items. This applies to portraits painted from this date only - old portraits remained unchanged.

returned for April Fool's Day 2008.

Prior to, a pirate had to purchase clothing before getting the free portrait mission.

Free portraits were added in.

Portraits made during the 2006 Halloween events featured the pirate as a ghostly form, as they appeared in-game.

On April Fool's Day 2006, pirates who had purchased the funny glasses could get portraits featuring them. This is still an option, but as all un-protected pairs of funny glasses dusted after 24 hours, the only ones left are those that had been gift-wrapped since then.

Portraits made during the first portion of the 2005 Halloween events featured the mask associated with that hat type in-game. (For example, a portrait taken while wearing a wide-brimmed hat would have a witch mask) Portraits in the second portion featured that person's Zombiefied features and traits. (Black hair, colored skin, and expression of hunger for braiiiiiins)

Prior to, a portrait made while trying on clothing from a tailor's rack would feature those clothes instead of the ones the pirate is actually wearing. This is no longer the case.

Other links

 * Official game documents
 * Commonly discussed ideas from Game Design
 * Tawnee's list of portrait triggers
 * Sseth's list of portrait poses
 * Portrait sharing thread
 * Portrait Background Contest


 * Portrait Vessels Across Cerulean
 * Portrait Vessels Across Emerald
 * Portrait Vessels Across Ice
 * Portrait Vessels Across Meridian