This filament painting of Allie posed a unique challenge, with the perspective of the photograph and her coloring. I would have loved to get the pinks of her nose and her vibrant blue eyes into the painting, but I work with a limited color palette. Adding more colors also adds complexity to the 3D print, and I try to balance production costs with keeping the price of my paintings reasonable.

Most of the retouching work on Allie involved better defining the edges between her chest and feet, or the bottom of her jaw. I also darkened her lips and the brown around her eyes to increase contrast.

Because of the lighting, much of her white fur came out as gray the first time I imported her picture into HueForge. I went back to Photoshop and brightened her white fur to make sure her coloring and markings were accurate.

Allie’s owner chose to have her placed on a shaped background with her paws, nose, and tail breaking out past the border of the shape. This is a popular style; it looks very contemporary and striking.

The finished size is roughly 8″ tall, and will fit comfortably in an 8″ x 10″ frame with a mat if desired.