How to turn a photo of your pet into a portrait
Almost any photo will do. Pets are the most forgiving subject there's — a hurried phone snap of a dog on the sofa turns out as well as anything posed, and you don't need to take a new photo to get started.
Why pets work so well
What makes a cat look like your cat is broad and robust — the markings, the set of the ears, the shape of the face, the way it sits. The same is true of a dog. Those things come through whatever style you paint them in.
It's why the bar for the original photo is low. Slightly off-centre, taken from the sofa, one ear caught mid-flick, half in shadow — all fine.
This is what Repaint is for
Repaint takes your photo and paints it in an art style, keeping the subject exactly where it's. Same pose, same markings, same composition — what changes is the brushwork, the colour and the texture.
The two things that make a difference are which photo you pick and how many styles you try.
Try more than one style
You can run up to five styles at once, and each comes back as its own finished picture.
There are over twenty to choose from, from soft watercolour to Renaissance oil painting, and they land differently on different animals. A bold, thick-brushed style that overwhelms a fine-featured cat can suit a big shaggy dog perfectly, and there's no reliable way to guess which in advance. It's much easier to choose between five finished pictures than to imagine five.
They're painted separately and appear as each one finishes, so you can close the page and come back. Every result arrives with a slider to drag between the painting and the photo you started from.
Getting a better photo, if you're taking a new one
You don't need to. But if you're going to:
- Get down to their eye level. Photographed from standing, a dog is mostly the top of a head and a cat is mostly a back. From their height it becomes a portrait.
- Use daylight, near a window or outside. It picks out fur that a flash flattens.
- Fill more of the frame with the animal. Cropping in later throws away detail; standing closer doesn't.
- Dark fur needs more light than you think. Black cats and dogs lose their features in dim rooms — not a fault of the camera, the detail simply isn't reaching it.
None of this is a requirement — it's the difference between a good result and a slightly better one.
Then print it
Once you have chosen the one you want, Enhance goes last, and that's what makes the larger canvas sizes available. There's more on that in why your photo won't print big.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I have my pet painted as a Renaissance portrait?
Yes — Renaissance is one of the styles, and it paints your photo in that manner. What it won't do is dress your pet up: a ruff, a crown or a uniform is a change to what is in the picture rather than how it's painted, and that's Edit, described in a sentence. Plenty of people edit first and repaint afterwards.
Does it work with black cats and dogs?
It works from whatever detail the photo captured. Dark fur in a dim room often holds less than you'd expect, so a photo taken in daylight gives a noticeably better result than the same pet indoors at night.
Can I get two pets in one picture?
If they're already in the same photo, yes — repaint it as it's. If they're in separate photos, Merge combines them first, and you repaint the result.
What if my only photo is old or small?
Use it anyway. Repaint works from what is there, and if the result is too small for the print you want, enlarge it after you have chosen the painting rather than before.
Which style suits a pet best?
There's no single answer, which is exactly why you can run five. As a rough steer, bolder brushwork tends to suit larger animals and busier coats, while softer styles suit fine-featured cats and small dogs.
What does it cost?
Repaint is charged per style you choose, so a run of five costs five times a run of one. Current costs for every tool are on the pricing page.