Hot Digital Dawg
Digitally Painted Pet Portraits From Your Photos
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the commission process?
The first thing you should do is fill out the form on my "Contact Me" page and send it to me with a few details about your project. That will provide me with your email address so that I can contact you to answer any questions you might have. Next, I'll ask you to email me the high resolution photo (at least 1MB in size) of your pet along with details, such as it's name, breed, sex, age and activities that it enjoys. This information will help me in the creative process. I will also need to know the size of canvas that you will want your final portrait printed on before I can begin creating it. As soon as I’ve had a chance to review the order and quality of the photo and pose, I’ll contact you to discuss the project in further detail and give you an estimated turnaround time. Once we've agreed on the image and canvas size, I'll email you a paypal invoice to cover my artistic fee and will add your project to my schedule. Upon receipt of your payment (Zelle or PayPal) and completion of the proofs, I will send you at least three low resolution proofs for you to choose from. Limiting the options, helps to keep my prices low. It will just be a matter of picking your favorite background and making any minor revisions. After you have selected a proof, I'll send you another invoice for the cost of the canvas, shipping and handling. Once that is paid I'll order the canvas for you and have it shipped directly to your address.
Can I use a picture that was taken with my phone?
If you want to use an already existing picture you'll need to check the resolution to see if it is at least 1MB in size. It's not a problem with an iPhone if you just send it at "Actual Size" which is the largest resolution. However, most android phone camera defaults are set for low resolution so that hundreds of images can be stored on the phone. It takes 1,024 kilobytes (KB) to equal 1 megabyte (MB). If you are not sure what your photo's resolution is, you can send it to me as an email attachment and I'll be happy to check for you. Likewise, photos borrowed from Facebook are always automatically reduced and do not work for this project. The quality and detail of your pet portrait will depend on the file size of the original photo that you send me. If the photo has low resolution and not many pixels, the finished product would be blurry and would not enlarge well, which would limit the products that you could have it printed on. In creating your portrait, I can not create more pixels – only alter the ones that are there.
If you would like to use your android to take new pictures, you should first go into the camera settings and increase the resolution to the largest size available. When you are happy with a photo, just email it to me as an attachment. With the iphone send it at "actual size" which is the largest file. However, the best bet for taking new pictures is to use an actual camera for plenty of resolution and nice, sharp images.
How Are These Portraits Created?
The effect of turning a photo into a digital painting is achieved by downloading your photo into photoshop, correcting lighting issues and replacing the background, drawing in missing eyes, ears, etc. with my digital pen and tablet, applying various filter and adjustment layers, smudging pixels and adding in color, individual hair strands and highlights with my digital paintbrush. It can be a very time consuming process. Not one that is easily achieved with the click of a button.
Many large on-line pet portrait services can put your perfect pet's photo onto their background but they will not take the time to correct a dark eye or cut off ear or paw in a bad photo. Many times, a bad photo is all that one has of a pet that has passed. I specialize in bringing the sparkle back into a past pet's eyes. Digital painting allows me to enhance the color and personality of your photos so that you can enjoy them from a distance and celebrate your pet’s unique qualities. Photos are fine, but my goal is to turn them into a work of loveable art with a “Wow” factor!
May I Combine More Than One Pet Photo Into My Portrait?
I’ll be happy to work with the photo if more than one pet is IN THE SAME photo. I don't charge extra for two pets but if there are more than two pets in the same photo, I do charge an additional $10 per pet. However, I’m not a fan of the cut & pasted look of combining different sized pets from different photos. No matter how well done, they rarely look quite right to me. If you have more than one pet in multiple photos, I suggest doing separate portraits of each and grouping them together. To personalize them even more, each pet’s name and/or personality traits can also be added.
What is Your Turnaround Time?
Since all work is done in the order it is received, of course the turnaround time depends on my current work load as well as that of my out sourced canvas vendors. Once I receive payment, I can usually get your proofs to you within the next 5 days and assuming there are not many revisions, will download your final proof to my canvas vendor as soon as you have approved it. I will also send your tracking information when your canvas is shipped.
How long will you keep my pet’s original file, in case I want more canvases?
As you probably know, images take up a lot of memory and these photoshop files with their many layers can be quite large. Therefore, I plan on deleting my working files after 2 years unless you request otherwise. If your image has been removed from my Redbubble shop before then and you want to purchase it on another product, just contact me and I’ll reactivate it.
Will I Receive the Original High Resolution File of the final Portrait?
No, Hot Digital Dawg retains the copyrights and reproduction rights on all of my final portraits. If you are interested in purchasing the image for commercial use, please contact me to discuss those fees.
Will You Be Using Or Selling My Pet's Portrait?
I may use your pup’s portrait on my website, Facebook page, Redbubble shop, trade shows or in gallery settings to showcase my work. If you prefer that I not use any portion of your pet’s portrait for marketing, just let me know and I’ll be happy to retire it. Most people don’t mind because it increases the exposure and value of the original, but that choice is entirely up to you.