My City Cartoon Cat Portrait

A cartoon cat portrait in the My City style sits your cat squarely in the middle of a sunlit street: brownstone terraces on both sides, fire escapes zig-zagging up the brickwork, green trees leaning in over the railings, a cast-iron street lamp, and a bright blue sky with fat clouds — with her name lettered above in a dark script.

The drawing style is clean and bold, closer to a comic panel than a painting, with confident outlines and flat, saturated colour. That is deliberate: it means the piece still reads clearly from the other side of a room, which is not true of every illustrated style.

Why a cartoon cat portrait suits a cat specifically

Cats sit better than they pose. This style is built around exactly that — an upright, front-on seated cat, tail curled round, ears up, looking slightly past the camera with an expression that is somewhere between polite and unimpressed. It is the pose almost every cat owner already has a photo of.

Tabbies do particularly well in a cartoon cat portrait, because the bold outlines emphasise stripe patterns rather than losing them. Tortoiseshells, calicos and any cat with strong markings also translate well. Solid black cats work but need a well-lit photo, since the style relies on visible facial detail rather than shading to build the face.

How your cartoon cat portrait is made

Send one clear photo taken at your cat’s eye level — which usually means crouching or putting the phone on the floor. Front-on or very slightly turned is ideal. Daylight from a window is enough; a flash is not. The photo guide shows the difference in a couple of examples.

Your photo is generated in this style and then individually reviewed and refined by a person before printing. Coat pattern is matched against your photo, eye colour corrected, and the face shape adjusted to your cat instead of a generic one — the bit that matters most in an illustrated style, where a small error in the eyes changes the whole animal. Her name is set from what you enter at checkout, so send the exact spelling. You approve a proof, normally inside one to three working days, before anything prints, and revisions are free and unlimited.

Sizes, framing and finish

Framed, canvas or digital download. Framed prints use 200gsm matte paper in a real pine frame behind shatterproof plexiglass, with a hanging kit, ready to hang, four to six days after approval. Canvas is slim 2cm stretched cotton-polyester, five to six days. Black framing sharpens the bold outlines; natural wood warms the whole thing up.

Sizes are 8×12, 12×18, 16×24 and 24×36 inches. This style holds up well small because the shapes are simple — an 8×12 works on a shelf or in a narrow hallway — but 12×18 is where the street detail behind starts to be worth looking at. Free tracked shipping on every order. The Cartoon collection has the same street scene for dogs, plus quieter night-time and multi-pet options.

Questions about this portrait

Can I get a cartoon cat portrait without the name?
The name is part of the composition in this style. Leave the name field blank at checkout if you would rather go without, and mention it in your order notes so it is not treated as a mistake.

Will the city background change to my city?
No. The street scene is fixed and is what makes the style what it is.

My cat will not sit still. What photo do I send?
Any clear one where the face is lit and both eyes are visible. It does not need to be a good sit — the pose in the finished piece is set by the style, not by your photo.

Can two cats share one cartoon cat portrait?
Not in this style — it is composed for one. Our Pawsome Pair in the same collection is built for two.

A share of every month’s orders goes back to rescued animals.