The picture of Max supplied by his owner had quite a lot in the background that I chose to remove. The couch cushions could have worked, but I felt they were too distracting when I previewed the 3D print file in HueForge. I also chose to simplify the foreground by removing the blue object and blending the pillow and blanket into the same shape.

Max’s coloring was thankfully straightforward, though I had to settle for his adorable pink tongue being the same color as his fur. I use a limited color palette for my filament paintings; adding more colors makes them more complex and drives up the cost to my customers.

I didn’t have to do much retouching to the original picture of Max, just adding some highlights and shadows to really make his features and coloring pop. His whiskers were important, so I highlighted his eyebrow whisker and darkened his cheek whiskers to make sure they showed up correctly in the finished print.

Max’s owner chose a 6″ x 6″ finished size, with Max’s name spelled out in the painting itself. I added a narrow border to the painting to make it easier to frame the portrait if the owner chooses.