Hi! It’s Mandi here to show you guys a real simple art project. Give your precious pets a place of honor in your home by turning their portraits into wall art! Andy Warhol-inspired portraits are fun digital projects to try—but don’t worry! You can do this project even if you don’t have photo-editing software, though you will need access to a copy machine. Check out the instructions below to make your own pop art portrait.
Supplies:
–8″ x 10″ frame
-8″ x 10″ pet portrait (I printed mine at home)
-scissors
–spray adhesive
-2 sheets of bright, complementary-colored cardstock
-8″ x 10″ background texture image (click here to download)
Step One: Cut out the background from your photo.
Step Two: Scan the cut-out image, and increase the brightness and contrast. Copy machines have options that allow you to do this directly through the copy machine. Just practice on copy paper before printing it onto the colored cardstock. When you get it how you like it, with bright whites and contrasting darks, print onto the cardstock.
Step Three: Print out the background texture onto the contrasting cardstock. You can download the texture by clicking here.
Step Four: Trim the image from the first printed paper, leaving a little border around the edge.
Step Five: Spray the back of the trimmed-out image and mount it to the background texture.
Step Six: Use the glass from your frame to see where to trim the excess paper from the textured background so that it fits in an 8″ x 10″ frame. Keep in mind while trimming that you want a border around the edge of the texture to show when framed.
We currently don’t have any pets, but someday we would like to bring one into our home! In the meantime, I do love animal art and tchotchkes, as you can see! The photo of the dog that I used for this project was taken by my friend Ashleigh Harris for her amazingly adorable series, Dogs and Babies. If you’re in need of a dose of cute today, you should seriously check it out! Swoon! –Mandi
Credits // Author and Photography: Mandi Johnson. Photos edited with Spring and Valentine of the Signature Collection.
64 Comments
another win Ms. Mandi, I love it!!!
Oh, I LOVE this project! The colors you chose are so great, especially with the clean white frame. I will have to do this for my cat!
Whenever you do get a pet, you must introduce us through the blog 🙂
Love the project, but… I WANT that planter in the picture!!
Great article, thanks for sharing! Love this vintage blog
Oh wow, this is just incredible! I love it x
holljc.blogspot.co.uk
Brilliant! I love pop art. I actually use it sometimes in my blog pictures because it has such a fun effect on everything. Can’t wait to give this a try. 🙂
Sincerely,
Laurali
http://www.thesecretsurprisinista.com
I LOVE this. I am completely doing this. Possibly right this second.
I love doing this! I had to do this a loooong time ago for a project in high school. Another project that’s similar and just as fun, is to photo copy a few pictures, put them in a collage and color in parts here and there (lips, glasses, shorts etc.) with colored pencil! It gives a great black and white look with pops of color.
Looks great! 🙂
this is so adorable!
xxoo,
nikki
http://www.dreaminneon.blogspot.com
For how simple this is, I don’t know why I haven’t done something like this yet! Genius!
One of the best DIY projects EVER!!!!! I can’t wait to make one for each of my chihuahuas!!!! Awesome
Love this soooo much, definitely going to make it 🙂
http://www.randomindistilling.blogspot.com
This is such a fun and cute idea for anyone who loves their pets! 🙂
emmasbeginning.blogspot.com
How fancy! Don’t have a pet so I think I will do this with a photo with my friends! Thanks for the great idea:)
I *need* one of my cat! This is adorable!
What a cute way to honor our pets:)
I am 100% doing this with photos if my boy! Good Friday afternoon slice at work too
Lauren
livinginaboxx
Oh I am very much doing this one! Love it! Great job!
That’s so cute! I wouldn’t have thought to make pet photos into pop art, but it looks so adorable! 🙂
http://everydayingrace.blogspot.ca/
What a great idea to do !!
Ahhh! Such a fantastic idea! Love it so much and can’t wait to try it!
Ashley
electriceelfashion.com
I love this idea! So simple…it would be fun to do a series of flowers or something! I’ll definitely be testing this one out 🙂 xx
The What’s In Between
This is adorable! Love the pink!
Neha @ http://nehasharmaphoto.com/blog/
This is so much simpler than I expected! I’m definitely doing this!
This idea is amazing.
I have two cats and one dog – so i am going to do it.
I hope so nice than you.
Greetings & Art Love
Ines
http://eclectichamilton.blogspot.de/
Now this is an adorable idea. I love this as a pop of color! Thanks for the tip!
xo Rachel
xa.. I like it. Great job.
I love this. I found this post on Bloglovin’ and I am so doing this for my fluffies….
OMG! I just loved this diy!! I am sooooo gonna do this!
Tksss
Umm… this is seriously so amazing I don’t even know what to say.
Yes Mandi! I love this simple but oh, so cute DIY!
I’d love to try it rather sooner than later.
Mariska
http://freecarnation.com
That is so clever! I was looking at the first photo thinking, how on earth is this a DIY project? I never would have guessed that’s how you do it.
I’ll definitely be making a few of these for gifts!
V @ Life+1
I love this idea!!
Janine Maral from http://www.janinemaral.com/
I’m so excited to do this! I wonder how well it will turn out with Howl because he has such dark fur.
Mana
http://www.fashionandhappythings.com
I love this! I am buying a french bulldog and am now determined to make a andy warhol style print of him/her!
http://www.dancingthroughsunday.typepad.com
Im sooooo doing this!! Thanks for the adorable idea!!
This is great! And so easy, too! I am totally doing this for our dog, Buster, since I know my boyfriend would love a surprise art gift like this. Thanks, Mandi and the AMB team. 🙂
XO Alison
looksharplansing.blogspot.com
This is awesome! I think I will do that with our guinea pig, Isolde! 🙂
This is so simple and turns out great… cat vase, nice touch!
xo
Oh wow this amazing. Love it! Will definately be trying this with my Betty Boop ?
Sounds super easy…and looks super cute!! Now I just have to convince my ferrets to sit still for a photo!! 😉
http://www.StyleIsMyPudding.com
I will definitely try this.
this is so awesome! such a simple idea and beautiful contrast it really makes a beautiful statement 🙂
http://floatingthrufields.blogspot.com/
Wow! I love how easy this is 🙂
Oh I want to make this now!!
you are so creative! this is so cool!
Sophia
http://sophiebysophia.blogspot.com/
Completely brilliant! Definitely going to try this if I can only get my silly dogs to pose properly
http://asaucystitch.blogspot.co.uk
Oh, Mandy, this is a very good idea. I am planning to use different frame sizes. I will make one picture in different colours and will hang the portraits at the wall behind my couch in the living room. I think it would be great. Thank you for the inspiration and the tutorial.
This dog is adorable!
And the portrait so so cute
Hey I love this idea going to make some this weekend! Also I really like the animal plant pot in the last photo, can anyone tell me were I can buy one or is it an antique?
Love love LOVE this! So cute and awesome!
xoxo
Taylor
Hi Debbie! Have fun with the project! I found the dog planter at an antique mall. That kind of planter is pretty common at vintage shops or even on Etsy. 🙂 – Mandi
Ahh! I love this! Can’t wait to try it with all 3 of my pups! Thanks so much for sharing!
Alissa
This is fantastic! I can’t wait to make a smaller version to put on my desk!
This is such a great idea. I like the colors and how the dog’s face is framed off-center. Good work!!
Nice pet portrait, I like it and want to try one of my doggy:-)
Enjoy 4.july 🙂
Emil
http://mariahoffbeck.blogspot.dk/2014/07/solgte-malerier.html
Okay, I’m spending tomorrow evening making this! This would be totally adorable to do for the whole family, even, and finally get some art on my apartment walls. Thanks for the inspiration!
~Elizabeth
Look for few more awesome creativity here http://goo.gl/Dj7nuY
love that dogs face!! cute! http://www.bloglovin.com/frame?post=2578467839&group=0&frame_type=a&blog=11875549&frame=1&click=0&user=0
I will definitely try this out. I LOVE pictures like this.
<3
http://julesn.blogspot.co.at/
This is so cute! I am absolutely going to have to do this when I get to my new house! <3
missameliajoy.com
I just came across this and I absolutely love it! I am having an issue downloading the texture that you have linked on this site. Every time I clink on either of the links, it just refreshes the page. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Can you post the background in a different format then DMS? I can’t open it even with a special unarchiver app I downloaded.