Gifts
A pet portrait is a strange thing to receive. It is not really a decoration, and it is not really a photograph. It is someone telling you they paid attention to the animal you love.
That is why it lands the way it does, and why it is worth ordering with a little more lead time than a gift card.
Birthdays & gotcha days
The easiest one. You already have a photo on your phone, and the recipient already knows the date matters. A framed portrait of their dog on their birthday reads as considerably more thought than it took, which is the entire art of gift-giving.
Housewarmings
New walls, and nothing to put on them. A portrait of the pet who just moved in with them is one of the few pieces of art you can buy for someone else's home without guessing their taste.
Holidays
Our busiest stretch, and the one where lead time actually bites. Because every piece is proofed with you before it prints, a holiday order needs room for you to look at the proof and reply. Order earlier than feels necessary.
Not sure which style?
Seven styles, quite different from each other: Modern is clean and true to life, Line Art is minimal and elegant, Painted is gestural and warm, Geometric is sculptural and contemporary, Carved Wood is warm and calm, 3D Cartoon is bright and playful, and The Day Jobs gives them a profession. If you are buying for someone else, match the style to their home rather than to the pet.
Something to wear rather than hang
Not every home has a spare wall, and not every recipient wants one more thing to hang. The same artwork goes on a hoodie, a crewneck sweatshirt or a t-shirt, printed into the cotton or embroidered onto it, and around a ceramic mug, all made to order from the same photo and proofed the same way. Two of the mugs need no photo at all: the Dog Mom and Dog Dad ones print the pet's name and nothing else. Hoodies and sweatshirts are heavyweight, in eight colours each; the t-shirts are garment-dyed and come in nine, cut relaxed and boxy. The three garments run S to 2XL, and each carries the pet on the chest rather than across the whole front, which is what makes them wearable outside the house. Mugs come in 11 and 15 ounce, with the name above the portrait or, on the two that carry no portrait, in place of one. Both sizes are dishwasher and microwave safe. Browse them in apparel.
When time is short: the gift card
A portrait needs a photo, and the best photo usually lives on the recipient’s phone. The Togo & Stark gift card hands them the whole choice: the photo, the style, the size and the format. It is delivered by email with a personal message on a day you choose, it comes in amounts from $25 to $200, and it never expires. For a lot of people, picking the photo themselves is half the pleasure.
There is also a middle path: any style can be ordered as a Digital File, the same portrait with the same free proof, delivered as high resolution downloads to print and frame locally.
Practical questions
Can I have it sent straight to the recipient?
Yes. Enter their address at checkout. Note that the proof email comes to you, not to them, so the surprise holds. You approve the artwork, they receive the parcel.
How far ahead should I order?
Allow time for two things. First the proof, which arrives within 24 hours but then needs your reply. Then production and delivery, which only start once you have approved it.
If it is for a particular date, order well ahead and reply to your proof the day it lands. Those two things are what actually decide whether it arrives in time.
What if I don't have a good photo of their pet?
Ask a family member, or check their social media. A screenshot is usually too compressed, but the original often isn't. Our photo guidelines show what works. If in doubt, upload it anyway; we check every photo before anything is made.
Can I include a gift message?
There is a notes box in the cart. Anything you write there reaches us with your order, so tell us what you would like included and we will take care of it.
Guides to the gift
If you are buying for a particular person, we have written it out in more detail: gifts for dog moms and dog dads covers the portraits, the apparel and the gift card side by side, and holiday pet portrait gifts explains why ordering early matters when every piece is made to order and proofed first.
If you know the animal but not the style yet, start from custom dog portraits or custom cat portraits, which show every style on real dogs and cats. And whoever you are buying for, the one thing that decides how good the result is the photo: our guide to photographing a dog with a phone takes five minutes and saves a revision.