Charcoal
About the style
A pure tonal study in black, white, and every grey between. No colour, no distraction — just the structure of your pet's face rendered with the precision of a classical fine art drawing. The kind of portrait that looks like it belongs behind glass.
On your wall
If it's not right, we fix it
If you need to make an adjustment, our artists offer free, unlimited revisions to refine every detail until your portrait is absolutely perfect.
Frequently asked questions
Cats suit the Charcoal style particularly well. The tonal approach catches the things that define a cat's face — the set of the eyes, the fineness of the whiskers, the structure under the fur — without colour flattening them out. Long-haired and short-haired coats both render beautifully, and the same is true for a charcoal dog portrait.
No. A black and white photo is a colour image with the colour removed. A Charcoal portrait is built the other way around — as a tonal drawing, where every value from the deepest black to the brightest white is placed deliberately to describe form. It reads as a fine art drawing, not a desaturated photograph.
Yes. The style relies on tonal range rather than colour, so a black coat reads as the deep anchor of the composition with mid-greys catching the light. The rendering shows structure that often gets lost in colour photos of black pets.
Charcoal is monochrome and reads as a quiet anchor in any palette. It tends to look best in a dark wood or matte black frame with a wide white mat, but it doesn't fight colour around it.
We fix it, free, for as long as it takes. Send us a note saying what is off, whether that is the shape of the eyes, a coat that came out too light, or a marking in the wrong place, and one of our artists reworks the portrait by hand. There is no limit on this and no charge for it. We will never tell you that you approved the preview so it is yours to live with.
No. Upload a photo and you will see your portrait in this style within a couple of minutes, free, with no card details asked for. You only pay if you want to keep it, as a digital file, a fine art print, or a gallery canvas.
If the preview misses one, say so and an artist puts it right by hand, free. White socks, a blaze, a star, a patch on the chest: those are the details that make a portrait look like your animal rather than any dog of that breed, and they are the first thing our artists check when a portrait comes back for a correction. Horses are where this matters most, and where we do the most reworking.
A clear, well-lit photo where their face is the focus. Phone photos are fine. Avoid heavy filters, strong back-lighting, and photos where the face is partly hidden. If your only good photo is imperfect, send it anyway. We work with what you have and will tell you if anything needs attention before we begin.
Digital downloads arrive in seconds, so they are never a deadline risk. Prints and canvases are typically delivered in 5 to 8 working days, and up to 2 weeks in the run-up to Christmas when the print studios are busiest. If you are ordering for a fixed date, order the physical version early and take the digital file straight away as a backup.
Yes, and it is some of the work we are proudest of. Any style can be made from an old photo, and the Rainbow Bridge style was written for exactly this. If the only picture you have is blurred or taken from across the room, send it anyway. We would rather try than turn you away.
Not from the preview, which is built around a single subject: upload two and it will pick one. If you want both of them together, ask for a revision on the preview and our artists will do their best to bring them into one piece by hand. That happens before you order anything, so you see the result first.
Portraits are made tall, so a landscape photo is cropped to fit and you may lose what was at the sides. Send it anyway if it is the photo you love: ask for a revision on the preview and our artists will do what they can with the framing, before you order.
Prints and canvases come in 8x12, 12x18, 16x24, 24x36, 30x45, 32x48 and 40x60 inches. Every size is the same tall shape as the portrait itself, and prints can be ordered unframed or in a black or gold frame.
Yes. The digital download is yours to print wherever you like. It is a 4K file, which keeps its detail up to about 12x18 inches; printed larger than that it starts to soften. If you want it bigger than 12x18, order the print or canvas from us instead.
The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Europe. Digital downloads have no borders and arrive anywhere in seconds.
No. Once an order is placed it goes straight into production and cannot be changed or cancelled, because each piece is printed for you alone and cannot be sold to anyone else. That is exactly what the free revisions before you order are for: keep asking until it looks like them, and only then order it.
Digital files arrive instantly and are non-refundable, though we will always sort out a download that failed, a corrupted file, or a double charge. Prints and canvases are made to order, so they cannot be returned for a change of mind or a size you picked by mistake. If one arrives damaged, misprinted, or is not what you ordered, send us a photo and we will replace or refund it. The full terms are on our refund page.