A custom dog portrait from your photo should feel simple. You send a photograph you love. A studio illustrator draws your dog by hand. You see the work before anything is printed. When you approve it, we print on archival paper, set it in solid wood, and ship it to your door.
Most portrait shops skip the proof so they can ship faster. We will not. A likeness is personal. The ears, the markings, the look that is only theirs — those details are worth getting right. Unlimited edits are complimentary. Nothing leaves the studio until you say it is finished.
1
Upload photo
Start with The Heirloom, or choose Royal, Line, Sketch, or Botanical. Add your dog’s name. Upload a clear photo — natural light, at their eye level, face visible. If two pets should share one portrait, tick that option on the product page.
2
Approve the proof
We send a digital proof before we print. Look at the eyes, the ears, the way the light sits on the muzzle. Ask for anything. We revise until it is right. There is no cap on complimentary edits, and there is no print without your approval.
3
We print and ship
Once you approve, we print on archival paper and frame the work in solid wood. Packed to arrive intact. Typical studio time is about one to two weeks to proof, then a few days to print and ship after you approve. Free shipping over $100.
Nothing prints until you approve. Revisions unlimited.
Each style is a different hand. Same studio, same proof, same archival paper and solid wood. From $89.
The Heirloom Portrait
The classic custom dog portrait from your photograph. A studio illustrator draws the face, the markings, and the expression by hand — not an oil painting, not a filter. Soft studio background, archival paper, solid wood frame.
This is the portrait most people start with. Default 8×10, black frame, soft white. Dusty pink if the wall wants it — Maple’s does, on a kitchen shelf. Beau’s hangs in soft white. Lucky arrived as a gift. Two pets as an option. Proof and unlimited edits included.
Your dog, in full regalia. The Boss is the royal portrait — painted collar, a hint of theatre, the same careful likeness as The Heirloom. It is still a custom dog portrait from your photo, not a costume pasted onto a stock pose.
Choose it when you want ceremony on the wall. Proof before print. Unlimited edits. From $89.
A single continuous line, drawn from your photograph. The Line is spare on purpose — silhouette, ears, the turn of the head — so the likeness sits quietly in a modern room.
It is still hand-illustrated, still proofed, still printed on archival paper and framed in solid wood. From $89.
Graphite on a quiet ground. The Sketch keeps the pencil in the work — hatch, smudge, the grain of a drawing rather than a polished plate. Your dog, from your photo, in the hand of the studio.
Proof and unlimited edits are included, the same as every other style. Archival paper, solid wood. From $89.
Your dog, framed in a wreath of leaves and bloom. The Botanical is still a custom dog portrait first — the likeness is drawn from your photograph — then set in a hand-illustrated botanical border.
Soft, domestic, a little garden on the wall. Proof before print. Unlimited edits. From $89.
A custom dog portrait is not a mug with a face on it. It is a likeness you will live with. We will not print until you have seen the drawing and said it is right.
Many studios skip proofs. They take the photograph, run it through a process, and ship. Faster, cheaper for them, and you find out whether it looks like your dog when the box arrives. We think that is the wrong order.
Your proof is a high-resolution digital file sent by email. You can ask for a softer eye, a different crop, a marking we missed, a background shift. There is no limit on complimentary edits. When you approve, we print. Not before.
That extra step is the whole point of commissioning a portrait instead of buying a print.
Elm & Tail
Shops that skip proofs
You see the drawing first
Yes — every order
Usually no
Edits after the first draft
Unlimited, complimentary
Often none, or a fee
Printed from an approved file
Always
Printed from the first pass
Hand-illustrated, not a filter
Studio illustrators
Varies
The photograph
A good photo makes a good portrait
We can work from almost any clear photograph. The ones that sing are simple: taken in natural light, at your dog’s eye level, with the face and ears fully visible. No heavy filter. Not from above. Not a sleeping heap on the sofa, if we can help it.
Phone photos are fine. Older photos are fine. If the file will not make a beautiful portrait, the studio writes before we begin — we would rather wait for a better frame than guess at a face.
Two pets can share one Heirloom. Send a clear photo of each, or one frame where both faces read. We will tell you if we need another angle.
Hand-illustrated portraits · unlimited edits · nothing prints until you say so
★★★★★
The ears finally looked like him
We went back and forth on the ears twice. They never charged us, and the proof looked like Beau — not a filter of Beau. Hung it above the sideboard the night it arrived.
★★★★★
Proof first — that sold us
The other studio skipped proofs. Elm & Tail sent Otto’s Royal proof in about ten days. One note on the muzzle and it was finished. People in the hallway ask who painted it.
★★★★★
Phone photo was enough
Maple’s dusty-pink Heirloom started as an ordinary kitchen snapshot. Seeing the before-and-after on the site is exactly what happened for us. Soft, quiet, very much her.
★★★★★
Line portrait, clean and modern
Wanted something quieter than a full oil look. Nico’s Line hangs on the entry console. Guests lean in. Unlimited edits meant we could ask for a thinner stroke around the eye without awkwardness.
★★★★★
Anniversary gift that landed
Ordered River’s Sketch for our anniversary. Graphite feel, archival paper, solid wood. The studio emailed before print when one ear looked soft in the photo — they asked for a second angle. That care is why it’s 5 stars.
★★★★★
Botanical on the plant shelf
Olive’s Botanical sits between the ferns and somehow doesn’t fight them. Proof revisions were gentle and fast. Thirty nights in and I’d commission another for my sister’s dog tomorrow.
★★★★★
Two pets, one frame
Ticked second pet for Lucky and Duke. The studio balanced the composition so neither felt crowded. Frame quality is quieter than the big print shops — which is what we wanted.
★★★★★
Secure checkout, calm emails
Paid with Affirm without drama. Status emails were human, not templates yelling at me. Proof arrived, one edit on the eye highlight, then print. Shipping over $100 was free as promised.
★★★★★
Not a filter — an illustration
I was worried it would look AI. It doesn’t. You can tell a person drew Pip. That was the whole point of commissioning instead of uploading to an app.
From your photo
A phone picture becomes the portrait
You do not need a studio session. A clear phone photo — natural light, face visible — is enough. These three started as snapshots.
Maple Phone photo → Heirloom, dusty pinkOtto Phone photo → The BossOlive Phone photo → Botanical
Materials
Archival paper. Solid wood.
We print on archival, acid-free paper so the blacks stay black and the paper does not yellow. This is a portrait meant to hang for years, not a poster that fades in a season.
Frames are solid wood — black, white, walnut, or birch — cut and finished for the size you choose. 8×10 is the studio default. 12×16 and 18×24 if you want more wall. No frame if you prefer to take it to your own framer.
Each piece is inspected, cornered, and packed so the glass (or acrylic) and the wood arrive the way they left the studio.
Gifting
A portrait that can be opened
Lucky’s Heirloom left as a gift — paper, the small shock of seeing a face you know drawn carefully. If you are commissioning for someone else, put their address at checkout and write the occasion in the order notes. We will tell you honestly whether the proof-and-print calendar can meet a birthday, a memorial, or a holiday.
The Heirloom is the one we recommend when you want the portrait among family frames. The Boss if the household has a sense of humour about who is in charge. Line and Sketch for quieter rooms. Botanical when the house already has plants on the shelves. From $89. No merch — just the portrait.
Shipping & timeline
A few weeks, not a season
Illustration and first proof typically take one to two weeks from a usable photograph. Edits are usually a few days each. After you approve, we print, frame, and ship within about a week.
Free shipping on orders over $100 inside the United States. Below that, a modest shipping charge is added at checkout. We send tracking when the portrait leaves the studio.
If you are working to a date — a birthday, a memorial, a holiday — write it in the order notes. We will tell you honestly whether the proof-and-print calendar can meet it.
Questions
Before you commission
What kind of photo should I send?
Natural light, at your dog’s eye level, face and ears visible. Phone photos are fine. Avoid heavy filters, overhead shots, and a sleeping pile if you have a clearer frame. If the file will not work, we write before we begin. More in the photo guide.
Can I include two pets?
Yes. Two pets are an option on The Heirloom and the other styles. Tick “Add a second pet” and upload (or email) a clear photograph of each. We will tell you if we need another angle.
How many edits do I get?
Unlimited, and complimentary. The proof is not a courtesy pass. We revise until you approve. Nothing is printed until you do.
Is this an oil painting?
No. Every Elm & Tail portrait is hand-illustrated from your photograph — not an oil painting, not a filter, not a generated image. Then we print on archival paper and frame it in solid wood.
Do you sell merch with the face on it?
No. Elm & Tail is the portrait — paper, wood, and the proof. No mugs, no pillows, no crewnecks.
Can I see examples of real orders?
Yes. Recent portraits above are signed studio examples in real rooms: Beau, Maple, Otto, Nico, River, Olive, Lucky, Duke, Pip, and Ash. Before-and-after frames show Maple, Otto, and Olive from the phone photo we started from.
What if I don’t like it when it arrives?
Thirty nights on your wall. If the likeness is wrong or the print or frame is at fault, write us. We reprint, re-illustrate, or refund.
How long does it take?
About one to two weeks to the first proof, a few days per round of edits, then about a week to print, frame, and ship after you approve. Free shipping over $100.
Guarantee
Thirty nights on your wall
Hang it. Live with it. If the portrait is not right — a likeness you cannot accept, a print or frame fault — write us within thirty nights of delivery. We will make it right: reprint, re-illustrate, or refund.
The proof exists so this almost never happens. We would rather fix a drawing in the file than a portrait on your wall. Secure checkout. Studio illustrators, not a filter.
Nothing prints until you approve. Revisions unlimited.
