The hand-painted restaurant menu

Giulia Dal Bon hand-paints a restaurant’s menu: the lunch menu, the seasonal menu, the tasting menu, the wine list, the Christmas menu. She paints the original with a brush, draws the lettering, and you have it printed. Trained in graphic design at the Brera Academy. From 400 €, high-definition file ready for the printer. Free quote within 48 hours.

Contact Giulia

Tell me your idea, and I will be glad to reply.

Hand-painted illustrated card

The price of a hand-painted menu

Hand-painted logo or letteringThe name of a house, a workshop, a brand, drawn letter by letter…from 500 €
Label, album cover or book coverA painted visual, adapted to the bottle, the record or the book…from 400 €
Hand-painted posterAn event, a film, a concert, a brand campaign…from 700 €
A complete identity, logo, label, packaging, from 1,500 €. A whole range or a series of variations: tailored quote.

Free quote within 48 hours

How it works

When you contact me about a restaurant menu, here is what happens next.

1

Your idea

A logo, a label, a poster: tell me what you have in mind, and we bring your idea to life together!

2

The quote

I send you a free quote within 48 hours.

3

Two sketches

Two free sketches: you tell me what you think, and I adjust.

4

The file

I paint the original by hand, lay it out, and you receive the print-ready file.

The menu is the one object the guest holds

A menu is looked at for several minutes, often before anything has been tasted. It is the first object of the house the guest touches, and the only one they truly read. A hand-painted menu says straight away what kind of house this is.

Giulia paints the produce of the day, the kitchen garden, the harbour the fish comes from, the landscape of the region, the farm animal, or a border of fruit and leaves running around the dishes. She also draws the lettering: the name of the house, the headings, the vintages on the wine list.

From the painting to the print file

Send the menu format, the number of pages and the paper stock. Giulia replies within 48 hours with a free quote and prepares two included sketches, laid on the real template. You tell her what you think and she adjusts.

She delivers a high-definition file ready for the printer, with the variations: the lunch menu, the evening menu, the wine list, the placemat, the group menu, the flyer, the version to display in the window. And because she also paints walls and shop windows, the same hand can appear on the chalkboard, on the sign and on the dining-room wall.

The houses that have their menu painted

Fine-dining restaurants and neighbourhood bistros, trattorias, pizzerias, brasseries, cafés and tea rooms, wine bars and cocktail bars; hotels for their breakfast menu and room service; guesthouses and farm tables; caterers and food trucks; ice-cream parlours and patisseries; wine estates for their tasting menu.

And for occasions: the seasonal menu that changes four times a year, the tasting menu, the Christmas and New Year’s Eve menu, the wedding and banquet menu, the menu of a festival or a four-hands dinner.

Your questions, before commissioning

How does having a hand-painted restaurant menu made work?

Tell Giulia Dal Bon what you have in mind for your menu, and she brings your idea to life with you. She sends you a free quote within 48 hours, then two free sketches: you tell her what you think, and she adjusts. She paints the original by hand, lays it out in Photoshop and Illustrator, and you receive the print-ready file. A menu starts at 400 €.

Can the menu change every season?

Yes, and that is the natural rhythm of a menu: the first one sets the style, the following ones reuse the same hand with a motif that changes with the season. The following menus are quoted faster because the composition already exists. Tell Giulia how many changes a year you plan, she puts it in the quote.

And the wine list?

It is treated as a family of its own: more text, more lines, a reading by regions or by grape varieties. Giulia composes the page so it stays readable, with a discreet motif at the head of each part rather than one large image, and hand-drawn lettering for the headings.

Can the chalkboard and the sign be in the same hand?

Yes, that is precisely what gives a house its unity. The hand-painted menu board is done right in the dining room, the sign and the shop window are painted on site, and the menu is printed. All four are drawn together.

Is the file ready for the printer?

Yes: high definition, exact dimensions, with bleed and the colour mode your printer asks for. If you print on textured paper, kraft or thick card, say so at the start, because the paper changes the colours and the line.

How much does hand-painted graphic design cost?

From 500 € for a logo or lettering, 400 € for a label, an album cover or a book cover, 700 € for a poster. A complete identity, logo, label, packaging, starts at 1,500 €, and a whole range is quoted separately. The price includes painting the original, two included sketches, corrections during the work and the high-definition file ready for the printer. Giulia Dal Bon replies within 48 hours with a free quote.

What do I receive at the end?

A high-definition file in the exact dimensions of your medium, ready to go to the printer, with the variations you need. The painted original stays yours if you wish: it is a work on paper or on canvas, and it can be framed. It looks right in the shop, the workshop or the office, next to the product it dresses.

Does Giulia also draw the name and the lettering?

Yes, and it is a part of the work she loves. She draws the name letter by letter, by hand, and composes the whole page: the name, the legal wording, the vintage, the title. She studied graphic design at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, alongside painting. The lettering can be painted with a brush, drawn in ink or cleaned up afterwards for print.

Who owns the design?

You do. The visual is painted for your house and for it alone: it is assigned to you for the intended use, and the quote says which. Giulia keeps the right to show the work in her portfolio, like any author. If you want full exclusivity or a wider use, that is written into the quote from the start.

Can we start from a photo or an AI-generated image?

Yes, and many people arrive with one today. An image found on Pinterest or generated by AI gives a direction: a colour, a framing, an atmosphere. Giulia looks at it, keeps the intention and paints an original by hand, with her own shapes, in the true dimensions of your medium. You get a work painted for you alone, and it belongs to you.

Can Giulia prepare the file for print?

Yes, that is the second half of the job. She paints the original by hand, then lays it out in Photoshop and Illustrator, two programs she knows well enough to have given private lessons on them. You receive a clean file, in the exact dimensions, with bleed, the requested colour mode and vector paths where needed. Your printer can talk to her directly.

When will I receive the file?

The schedule is set with you at the quote stage, around your print, release or event date. Giulia sends two sketches, you choose, she paints, shows the progress and you adjust with her. Write to her with your date, she tells you straight away whether it can be met.