Gift ideas
Custom Pet Portrait Gifts: 7 Ideas for Dog and Cat Lovers
Seven custom pet portrait gift ideas made from a photo, from a royal oil portrait on canvas to a plush-toy version of their dog on a mug.
People who love their pets already have a phone full of photos of them. That makes a custom pet portrait one of the easiest personal gifts to get right: you start with a photo they already love, turn it into art, and put it on something they’ll use or hang up.
Here are seven ideas, each pairing one of our styles with a product that suits it.
1. A royal portrait on canvas
The Royal Pet Portrait style paints a dog or cat as Renaissance royalty, with velvet robes, an ermine cape and a jeweled crown. It’s funny and oddly dignified at the same time, and it belongs on a canvas print, ideally with a frame, hung somewhere guests will see it.
2. A watercolor for the quiet ones
Not every pet owner wants a joke on the wall. Matte Watercolor gives a pet photo delicate ink lines and soft, muted washes. It’s a gentle choice, and a thoughtful one for remembering a pet who has passed away.
3. Their pet as a plush toy, on a mug
Plush Toy turns a pet into a huggable handmade stuffed animal, with soft fleece and embroidered eyes, keeping its real colors and markings. On a mug, it’s a small gift that gets used every morning.
4. A cartoon keychain
The Cartoon style has a smooth animated-movie look with expressive faces, which reads well even at a small size. Put it on a photo keychain and their dog goes everywhere their keys do.
5. Sunglasses, obviously
Some styles leave the photo almost as it is and add one thing. Sunglasses puts chunky pixel-art shades on everyone in the photo, pets included. It’s a good fit for a t-shirt, or for coasters on a coffee table.
6. A crocheted version of them
Crochet redraws a pet as a yarn figure with visible stitches, in colors matching its real fur. It’s a sweet match for anyone who knits or crochets, without you needing to learn how.
7. A puzzle of the whole pack
For a household with more than one animal, take a group photo and make it a puzzle. A colorful style like Vibrant Fantasy gives every part of the picture enough detail to make the puzzle fun to put together.
Picking the photo
Pet photos work best when:
- the pet’s face and eyes are clearly visible, ideally looking toward the camera
- the photo is taken at their eye level, not from above
- there’s good light, like near a window or outside on an overcast day
- dark fur isn’t lost in shadow, which is the most common problem with black dogs and cats
Previews are free, so if you’re choosing between a few photos, try each one. You’ll see the result on every product before you order.
Products that suit pet portraits
Canvas Print
from CAD$25
Mug
from CAD$20
Photo Keychain
CAD$20
Puzzle
from CAD$40
Coasters
CAD$30
Acrylic Photo Block
from CAD$50
You can browse every style that works well with animals on the styles page using the “Great for pets” filter.
