Pet portraits
A pet portrait from a photograph
Cats, dogs, rabbits, horses, birds — hand-painted in oil from the photographs you already have, at prices published on the page rather than quoted by email.
A pet portrait is a portrait of a specific animal, and the whole job is in the differences: the asymmetry of a cat's face, the way one ear sits lower, the exact width between a rabbit's eyes. Generic pet art is everywhere and it is cheap for a reason — it is not your animal, it is an animal.
We paint in oil on cotton canvas, at whatever size the wall needs, and we work from photographs rather than from a sitting. That is not a compromise: a photograph catches the animal at the moment it looked like itself, which is precisely the moment a sitting destroys.
What makes a photograph paintable
Sharpness at the eyes, first. Everything else can be worked around — a soft background, a busy carpet, a hand in frame that can be removed. If the eyes are mush, there is no likeness to paint, and no amount of brushwork fixes it.
Second, even light. A photograph taken with a flash at night loses the form of the face: the highlights blow and the shadows go black, so the painter has to invent the shape of the skull. Daylight from a window, even on a grey day, is better than any flash.
Third, the right expression. Most owners send the photo where the animal looks alert and slightly ridiculous, which is usually the correct choice — a formal, dead-eyed pose reads as a painting of a statue.
Oil, and why it matters for fur
Oil can be worked wet into wet for soft transitions and left to set for sharp detail over the top, which is exactly the range that fur needs: a soft underlayer for the mass of the coat, crisp strokes over it for the hairs that catch light.
Acrylic dries too fast for that layered approach and tends to look flat on fur; a canvas print has no surface at all. Under raking light you can see the difference immediately, which is also the test we suggest for any studio you are considering — ask for a photograph taken at an angle, not straight on.
Single pets, several pets, and pets with people
One animal fits 12 × 16 in comfortably for head and shoulders, or 16 × 20 in for a sitting figure. Two animals need 20 × 24 in; three need 24 × 36 in; beyond that the heads get too small to carry a likeness and a set of separate canvases works better.
A pet with its owner is a two-subject painting and is priced as one. If the animal and the person were never photographed together, the composition is built from two photographs with the light direction matched — normal work for us, and worth saying explicitly because most studios refuse it.
What it costs
Price is set by canvas size and the number of subjects — not by the occasion, the deadline, or how much detail you ask for. The table below is the same one used on every painting page, so there is no quote to wait for.
| Canvas | Metric | 1 subject | 2 subjects | 3 subjects | 4+ subjects |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 × 10 in | 20 × 25 cm | $189 | $259 | — | — |
| 12 × 16 in | 30 × 41 cm | $289 | $379 | $459 | — |
| 16 × 20 in | 41 × 51 cm | $389 | $499 | $619 | $749 |
| 20 × 24 in | 51 × 61 cm | $549 | $699 | $849 | $1,029 |
| 24 × 36 in | 61 × 91 cm | $789 | $1,059 | $1,290 | $1,560 |
| 30 × 40 in | 76 × 102 cm | $1,090 | $1,449 | $1,749 | $2,090 |
| 36 × 48 in | 91 × 122 cm | $1,390 | $1,849 | $2,249 | $2,690 |
Shipping is free worldwide. Framing is optional and quoted separately — most customers have the canvas stretched by a local framer for $60–$120.
How it works
Send the photograph
One sharp phone photo is enough. Tell us the deadline, the wall it is going on, and anything that must or must not be in the picture.
See the mock-up within 24 hours
A digital composite at the exact canvas size and crop, so size and composition are settled before any paint is bought. Nothing is charged until you approve it.
Watch it being painted
Three to five weeks in real oil, with two progress photographs. You can raise a concern at either one — that is what they are for.
Approve, then it ships
You see the finished canvas first, with one free round of adjustments. Then it travels rolled in a rigid tube, tracked and insured, with the numbered certificate inside.
Real oil, not a print
Hand-painted on cotton canvas, varnished, signed. Brushwork you can see in raking light.
You approve before we paint
A digital mock-up at the exact size and crop, within 24 hours, included in the price.
Numbered certificate
Every painting ships with a signed COA stating artist, medium, size and year.
Free worldwide shipping
Rolled in a rigid tube, tracked and insured. No minimum, no distance surcharge.
Questions
Questions we actually get
$189 for an 8 × 10 in, $289 for 12 × 16 in, $389 for the 16 × 20 in most people choose, up to $2,690 for the largest multi-pet canvases. Each extra animal adds a fixed amount, and shipping is free worldwide.
Yes — the method is the same for any animal: read the skull, then the coat or feathers, then the eyes. Birds and reptiles are painted more often than people expect, usually as memorials.
Send the original file if you have it. Screenshots and messaging-app copies are compressed, and heavy skin-smoothing filters remove exactly the structure a painter needs. If the original no longer exists, send the best copy and we will tell you whether it will hold at the size you want.
It is painted from your photograph, so the asymmetry, the ear set and the markings are yours. You see a digital mock-up within 24 hours and approve the composition before painting, then two progress photographs while it is being painted.
Yes, and a large share of these commissions are memorials. Old prints, faded colour and creases are restored digitally first for $60–$70, and you approve the restored version before any paint is used.
Send your pet's photograph
Tell us the wall and the deadline. You get a fixed price, the size that fits and a date we can keep — usually the same day.