A figure from your photo or drawing

Why this one isn't instant

Designing from a description is quick because the picture is made to order — one subject, clean edges, a plain background, lit the way the modelling needs. A photograph is none of those things.

Before anything can be modelled, your subject has to be cut out of the background — separated from the grass, the sofa, the other dog — and that step doesn't always come out cleanly. Then the shape has to be built from a single viewpoint, so whatever the camera couldn't see has to be worked out rather than copied. A shadow under a chin, a tail behind a leg, fur against a similar-coloured carpet: all of it makes the difference between a good figure and a poor one.

It's a different pipeline from the one on the figure page, and it needs a person to look at the photo first. Some photos work beautifully. Some can't be used at all. It's far better we tell you which before you pay than afterwards.

Drawings work too

If your child has drawn something — a monster, a robot, a cat with seven legs — we can make it real. It's one of the better things we do, and it comes out looking like their drawing rather than like something off a shelf.

A drawing is a different job from a photograph. There's no depth in it to work from, so we're interpreting rather than copying: we take the shapes, the proportions and the character, and work out what it would look like as a solid object. That means a bit more back and forth, and you'll see a render before anything is printed.

Keep the original safe. We only need the photographs, and we'd hate for a drawing to go missing in the post.

A likeness, not a replica

This is the important bit, and we'd rather say it before you order than after. What you'll get is a recognisable likeness of your pet — the shape, the stance, the colours, the thing that makes them look like them. It will not be an exact copy. Markings won't land in precisely the right places, and fine details like the set of an eye or the shape of an ear will be close rather than perfect.

Drawings are the exception to this — there's nothing to be faithful to except the drawing itself, so those usually come out exactly as hoped.

That's a deliberate trade-off, and it's what keeps it affordable. Sculpting a true portrait likeness from a photograph is specialist work — a professional sculptor would spend ten to fifteen hours on it and charge several hundred pounds, quite rightly. Our tools do the heavy lifting and we finish the result by hand, which is why a figure of your dog costs what it does.

What makes a good photo

The better the photo, the closer the likeness — this is the one thing you control.

Not sure? Send it anyway. Looking costs nothing, and we'll tell you honestly whether it'll work or whether another photo would give you a better figure.

How it goes

1. You send the photo With a bit about what you'd like — a pose, a size, anything that matters.
2. We look at it properly Usually within a couple of days. If it won't work, we'll say so and tell you what would work better. Nothing charged.
3. We quote From £35 for a 100 mm figure. The price depends on how much work your photo needs — a clear, well-lit shot is quick, a difficult one isn't — and on the size and finish you want.
4. We model it Cut out, reconstructed, then cleaned up by hand like every other figure.
5. You approve the render You see exactly what will be printed. One round of changes included, and nothing prints until you say yes.

Send us your photo

Up to four photos. Different angles of the same subject help more than four of the same shot.

We'll reply by email, usually within a couple of days. Nothing is charged and nothing is made until you've seen a render and agreed a price. We only use your details to reply about this enquiry.

Made from a photo

Example designs and photographs of things we've made. We'd rather show you ours than a stock picture of somebody else's. Tap a picture to see it bigger.