Quick answer: upload a clear photo of your dog, cat or any pet to the Create Your Own kit ($19.95) and it arrives as a numbered 40cm x 50cm canvas with paints matched to their actual coat colors. You paint your own pet — no art skills required.
Pet portraits are the single most beloved use of our custom kit — which, for context, is the most-ordered product in the entire store. There's a reason: you don't just get a portrait of your animal, you spend fifteen-plus quiet hours making it, whisker by whisker. Here's how to get a portrait-worthy result.
How pet portraits work here
- Pick the photo (advice below — it's 80% of the outcome).
- Upload it when ordering the Create Your Own kit.
- We convert it into outlined, numbered sections with an acrylic paint set matched to your pet's actual colors — the brindle, the patches, the one weird ear.
- You paint it section by section: background first, fur mid-project, eyes and nose last with the small brush, when your hand is warmed up.
Choosing the photo: what actually matters for pets
- Natural light, no flash. Outdoor shade or window light shows true coat color; flash flattens fur into one dark mass and makes eyes glow.
- Get on their level. Photos taken crouched at eye height convert into far better portraits than top-down shots of a confused forehead.
- Close and sharp beats artistic. Head-and-chest filling the frame gives the conversion enough detail for expressive eyes — the part you'll care most about painting.
- One pet per canvas is the sweet spot. Two is doable with a tight crop; a full pack means every face gets fewer sections.
- Simple background. Grass, sky, a plain wall — the busier the background, the more numbered sections it steals from your animal.
Same rules as our general photo-picking guide, but stricter — fur detail rewards good light more than human faces do.
The memorial portrait
A quiet truth about this product: many custom kits are ordered after a pet passes. Customers tell us the weeks spent painting a lost companion — deliberately, one section at a time — feel less like making decor and more like time together. If that's why you're here, choose the photo that feels most like them on a good day, and don't rush the eyes. The finished canvas, in a simple wooden frame, becomes the version of them that stays on the wall.
Prefer a designed animal canvas?
If a custom portrait feels like too much pressure for a first kit, our designed animal collections are the warm-up lap: dogs, cats, birds, horses, owls, wolves and the broader animal art collection — including Klimt-styled options like the Charming Cats kit, one of our seven best-selling Klimt-inspired designs.
Gifting a pet portrait kit
For the dog person who has everything: gift the kit itself (they paint their own pet — you'll need a good photo of their animal smuggled off their camera roll or social media, well-lit per the rules above) or paint it yourself and gift the finished, framed portrait. Either way, allow 3-5 days processing plus 5-15 business days delivery, and painting time on top if you're doing the brushwork.
FAQ
What pet photos convert best?
Sharp photos in natural light, taken at your pet's eye level, with the head and chest filling most of the frame and a simple background. Avoid flash and motion blur.
Can I do a portrait of two pets on one canvas?
Yes — a close crop of two animals works. Just know each face gets fewer, smaller sections than a single-pet portrait, so detail work increases.
Do I need painting experience for fur and eyes?
No — every section is numbered to a matching paint pot. Fur and eyes are simply smaller sections; use the kit's small brush, save them for the start of a session, and take it slow.
Got the photo? Start your pet's portrait here — and see the full camera-roll-to-wall walkthrough if you want the complete game plan first.