Custom Pet Portrait From Photo, Hand Painted on Canvas

Send us a photo of your dog, cat or horse and we paint it by hand on canvas in our studio in Dafen Art Village, Shenzhen. Every pet portrait is a real painting in acrylic or oil, never a print with brush texture added on top. There is no minimum order, we paint any size from 24 by 20 inches up to 80 by 60 inches and beyond, and we photograph the finished canvas and send you the pictures before anything leaves the studio.

What you get when you send a photo

We paint in acrylic unless you ask for oil. Oil is available on request and takes longer, because it dries slowly between layers. Both go on canvas: premium linen, stretched on solid wood bars when you want it stretched.

A phone photo is fine. Most of the photos we work from were taken on a phone. Scanned prints and screenshots work too.

Good fit

You have one photo where your pet’s eyes and face are clear.
You want a painting, not a print, and you care that a person made it.
You want a size that fits your wall, not whatever a shop stocks.
You are a groomer, vet, breeder or pet boutique ordering for clients or your own walls.

Not a fit

You need it this week. Painting takes days, and freight adds more.
You want us to copy a living artist’s signature look. We do not do that.

We ask this once: the photo must be yours, or you need the photographer’s permission. If a professional shot your dog at a show, check with them first.

Which photo works, and what we do with a poor one

Eye level

Crouch so the camera is level with your pet’s eyes. Shot from standing height, the face flattens and the nose looks huge.

Soft daylight

Outdoors in shade, or near a window. Flash bleaches fur and turns dark eyes into white dots.

Fill the frame

The pet should fill most of the picture. If you have to zoom in, so does the painter.

Fur detail

We need texture: where the coat is long, where it curls, where the white patch stops.

Many photos are not like that, and most still work. Pick the one that looks most like your pet, then send two or three others so we can borrow details: the ears, the eye color, the true markings. We build from the hero photo and correct from the rest.

If your only photo is blurry or badly lit, send it and ask. We will tell you what we can and cannot do with it. Sometimes the answer is to paint the head large and loose rather than sharp, because a soft painting from a soft photo looks right.

Pick a style, from realistic to loose

Style changes the feel of a portrait more than anything else. Tell us in plain words, or point at a painting in our catalog and say “like that, but my dog.”

Realistic. Careful fur, catchlights in the eyes, a wet nose.
Impressionist. Visible brushstrokes and soft edges, with light doing the work.
Textured. Thick paint standing off the canvas. Heavy texture ships stretched or framed, never rolled.
Loose and bold. Big color and simplified shapes, more feeling than fur.
Minimalist. The head on a flat field of color, with quiet space around it.

Burnt orange and red expressive stallion head maximalist painting displayed as framed wall art in a white loft living room — A loose, bold treatment of an animal head, repeatable with your own dog or horse.

White horse head on burnt orange minimalist canvas displayed as framed wall art in a white loft living room — The minimalist route: a portrait head on a flat colored ground.

Browse our animal and wildlife collection and horse collection to see the range. Any painting there can be repainted with your own pet in it, at any size and in any colors.

Two or three pets in one painting, and pets with their people

Your pets do not need to have been photographed together. Send one good photo of each and we compose them into one scene with the same light, scale and background. Dogs and cats can share a canvas. So can the dog you have now and the one you lost years ago.

We can also paint you or your children in with the pet, built the same way from separate photos. If the portrait is mostly about the people, see our custom portrait paintings page.

A woman reclining with a violet cat, hung above a white slipcovered sofa in a coastal living room — A person and an animal in one composition, painted as a single scene.

While we compose, we can fix what you would rather not see. We change or remove the background, drop a leash, swap a collar, add a favorite toy, or set the pet somewhere it never stood. Say so in the enquiry and we confirm it before painting starts.

Memorial pet portraits

A lot of our pet work is memorial work, and the photo is usually whatever happened to be on the phone. That is normal, and usually enough to work from.

Tell us anything that matters: the way one ear sat, the gray on the muzzle, the exact eye color, whether the collar should stay on. Small true details make a memorial portrait feel like the animal instead of a generic dog.

On timing we will be plain rather than reassuring. Production for one piece is 7 to 10 business days, and freight adds its own days. If it is a gift for the weeks after a loss, say so in the enquiry and we will tell you honestly whether the dates work.

Size and finish for a pet portrait

We keep 60 standard sizes from 24 by 20 up to 80 by 60 inches, plus sets of two and three, and paint any other size to your measurements at the same rate. Canvases beyond 80 by 60 inches are quoted case by case.

One rule covers most walls: the painting should cover roughly two thirds of the width of the sofa or fireplace below it. Over a three-seat sofa that lands around 40 to 48 inches across. A single head looks best vertical, and two pets side by side want a horizontal canvas.

Medium	Acrylic on canvas as standard. Oil on request, and oil takes longer because it dries slowly between layers.
Sizes	60 standard sizes, 24 by 20 up to 80 by 60 inches. Any other size at the same rate.
Production	7 to 10 business days for 1 to 5 pieces. Large and heavily textured pieces sit at the top of the band.
Finish	Rolled, stretched on wood bars, or framed in black, white, wood, silver or gold. All five frame colors cost the same.
Approval	We photograph the finished canvas and send the photos. Nothing ships until you approve it.
Minimum	No minimum order. One painting is a normal order.

How it works, step by step

Send the photo. Use the quote form, email support@palettemomento.com, or WhatsApp. Tell us size, acrylic or oil, style and finish.
WhatsApp replies are usually immediate; email replies usually arrive within 12 hours. A real person, Monday to Sunday, says what we can do with your photo and quotes the piece.
Deposit. Usually 50 percent, balance before the painting is released. Wire transfer, PayPal or card, confirmed on the invoice.
Painting, with progress photos. We send pictures while it is being painted, so you can steer it while changes are easy.
Approval photos. We photograph the finished canvas and send them. Nothing leaves the studio until you say yes. If a piece has a defect that is our fault, we repaint it at our cost.
Finish and freight. Rolled, stretched or framed, then packed. Delivery is EXW our Shenzhen studio, freight quoted separately at cost. FedEx or DHL express takes 5 to 10 business days.

Paintings executed entirely by hand fall under HTS 9701, which has a free base rate of duty into the United States. Other China-origin measures can apply, so confirm your own position with a customs broker.

Ordering more than one

Groomers, vets, pet hotels, breeders and pet boutiques order two ways: pieces for clients, and art for their own walls.

There is no minimum order. Trade pricing starts from a single piece, improves at 6 pieces and again at 21, and mixed designs count together, so six different dogs count as six. Production runs 10 to 15 business days for 6 to 20 pieces and 15 to 20 for 21 to 50. Rolled canvas is the cheapest way to ship more than about 20 pieces. For a first or large order we paint a sample, and its cost is credited back on any order of 10 pieces or more. Full terms are on the trade page.

Golden yellow naive folk horses canvas painting shown in a styled interior — Many animals on one canvas, as a litter or a stable would be painted.

Did not find what you like? Send us what you like

Our animal and wildlife collection is a starting point, not a limit. If none of the 286 designs in the catalog is the animal you love, send us what you do like and we paint it. Lions, elephants, birds and highland cows work the same way, and you can see that side of it on our custom animal paintings page.

That can be a photo of your own pet, a Pinterest board, a screenshot, an AI-generated image, a sketch, a paint chip or a piece of fabric. We combine several images into one composition, resize or recolor any catalog design, and add personal elements. If the background should match a wall color, we mix the color, photograph it under daylight and send you that photo for approval before painting.

Sunlit balcony with a white cat fauvist painting displayed as framed wall art in a bright living room — A cat inside a whole scene rather than a head study. Your pet can be painted into a room or a garden.

See also photo to painting, and custom horse paintings if the animal is a horse.

Questions people ask

Can you paint my dog from a photo, and what kind of photo do you need?

Yes. Send the clearest photo you have, tell us the size and the style you want, and we paint your dog by hand on canvas in our Shenzhen studio. A phone photo is fine. The easiest photos to paint from are taken at your pet’s eye level, in soft daylight, with the animal filling most of the frame. If you send several, we build from the one that looks most like your dog and take details such as ear shape and eye color from the others.

My dog passed away and I only have an old blurry phone photo. Can you still paint it?

Often yes. Most memorial photos are not studio quality, and we work from them all the time. Send the photo and we will tell you honestly what we can do with it. If the file is very soft, we usually suggest painting the head large and loose rather than sharp, because a soft painting from a soft photo looks natural while a fake-sharp one does not. Tell us the details you remember and we work those in.

Can you put two or three pets in one painting if they were never photographed together?

Yes. They do not need to have been photographed together. Send one clear photo of each pet and we compose them into a single scene with matching light, scale and background. Dogs and cats can share a canvas, and so can a pet you have now and one that has passed. Tell us who should stand where and roughly how large each one should be, and we confirm the layout before painting starts.

Is it really hand painted, or a print with brush texture on top?

It is a real painting. Every piece is painted by hand in our studio in Dafen Art Village, Shenzhen, in acrylic or oil on canvas. We never print an image and brush texture over it. You can see this for yourself in the progress photos we send while the portrait is being painted, and again in the photos of the finished canvas that we send before anything ships.

Oil or acrylic, and which is better for a pet portrait?

We paint in acrylic unless you ask for oil. Oil is available on request. Acrylic dries fast, holds its color and travels well, which is why it is our default. Oil gives softer blending in fur and takes longer, because it dries slowly between layers. Tell us your preference in the enquiry and we paint in that medium. Either way it is paint on canvas, applied by hand.

How long does a custom pet portrait take from photo to delivery?

Production for 1 to 5 pieces is 7 to 10 business days. Pieces 36 by 48 inches and larger, and heavy texture, sit at the top of that band because thick paint has to dry between layers, and oil takes longer still. Freight is on top of that: express by FedEx or DHL takes 5 to 10 business days. Tell us your deadline in the enquiry and we will say plainly whether it works.

Do I get to see the painting before it ships?

Yes. We send progress photos while the portrait is being painted, then photograph the finished canvas and send you those pictures too. Nothing leaves the studio until you approve it. Because you can steer the work from the progress stage onward, surprises are rare. If a finished piece has a defect that is our fault, we repaint it at our cost.

How much does a hand painted pet portrait cost and how do I pay?

Price depends on the size, the medium, the level of detail and the finish, so we quote each portrait rather than publish a figure. Send the photo and the size you want and you will have a quote within 12 hours, Monday to Sunday. Payment is usually a 50 percent deposit with the balance before the painting is released, by wire transfer, PayPal or card. Terms are confirmed on the invoice.

Send Your Reference on WhatsApp

No minimum order. WhatsApp replies are usually immediate; email replies usually arrive within 12 hours.

Custom Pet Portraits from Photos, Hand Painted in Oil or Acrylic