Personalized hardcover
The Christmas Light of Your Pet
Your pet, painted from one photo into every page.
Out into the snow, for someone smaller.
$64.99Free U.S. shipping
The likeness guarantee. If the book that arrives still is not them, we repaint it or refund you.
Paint their cover — freeAbout a minute · no card, no account
- See their painted cover free — no payment yet, pay only if it’s them
- Photo reviewed the same or next business day — before printing
- Replaced if it arrives damaged
Show me this book as a…
Lucy is standing in. Your own pet is painted into it, with their name on the front.
A look inside
Example artwork — your book stars your own pet.
Look closer
Will it actually look like your pet?
It is the only question that matters, so here is our answer at full size: one customer’s photo, and the cover painted from it.
The hard ones: a black coat and a calico face
Two sample photos we painted through the same step you are about to use. Each cover came back in about a minute, from the one photo beside it.
Photo
CoverOtisblack lab · grey muzzle · one white patch 
Photo
CoverJunipercalico · split face · green eyes
How we check
Before anything prints, a person opens your photo next to every page and checks the things that make your pet theirs: the shape of the face, the set of the ears, each marking, the collar, the way they hold themselves. A page that drifts is painted again, not shipped. And if the book that arrives still is not them, we repaint it or refund you.
About this book
On Christmas Eve, your pet gives up the warm window to walk a lost hare home down a lantern-lit lane — a story about the light you carry rather than hang.
Your pet stars in every scene — not just on the cover. Painted from one photo, with the markings that make them recognizably yours.
- Art style
- Painted Storybook
- Format
- 8.5-inch square hardcover
- Length
- 40 pagesOur long format — your pet painted into every one of them.
- Suitable for
- Ages 2–6 · and any grown-up who reads it to the dog
OMG, it’s so cute! It captures Oliver’s little snaggle tooth perfectly — it looks exactly like him.
I started Illustrated You because I could not find a book that actually looked like my dog. So every book here is painted from your own photo, and a person on our team looks at the finished pages against that photo before anything goes to the printer.
Mark, founder
Before you pay a thing
See your pet on this cover first
Upload one photo and we paint their cover — free, in under a minute, with no card and no account. If it is not them, you have lost a photo and a minute.
- One photo, and their nameWe tell you right away whether the photo will work.
- Their cover, paintedTheir markings, their name on the front. Not a mock-up — the same painting the printed book is made from.
- Then you decidePayment is the last step, after you have seen it.
What happens in it
The story
Snow on the lane, and a row of unlit lanterns. All year your pet has waited for this one evening — the hour at dusk when a lantern is lit outside every door — and the best seat for it is the warm window at home. Then something small moves under the hedge across the snow: a young hare that cannot find its way back. So your pet leaves the window and goes out into the cold. It follows the hare’s tracks down the lane until the fresh snow covers them, and when the light goes blue and home is calling, it stays, and shelters the little one with its own body. One small clue from the hare is enough, because your pet knows this lane. Down it they go together as the lanterns begin to wake, your pet stamping a path so short legs can follow, to a mother waiting at the far end. Then the walk home alone under every lit lantern, along the path it made, to the red door and the fire — and the window, where the lanterns your pet gave up are shining, and mean more than they did.
Who it's for. For ages 2–6 and any family that wants one book to read every Christmas Eve. Bought for the pet the whole house gathers round, and for the child who wants them in the story.
The dedication
The first page is yours
Typeset exactly as you write it. Up to 2 names, a date, and about 200 characters — drawn as it prints, while you type it.
Before you ask
Good questions
Is this a religious Christmas story?
No. Its Christmas is the one every family has — snow on a village lane, lanterns lit at dusk, wreaths on the doors, a fire and a tree at home. There is no Santa, no nativity, and no presents. It is a story about a warm window given up, and a cold walk that turns out to be worth it.
Does my pet get lost, or is the snow frightening?
Your pet is never lost — the hare is, and your pet is the one who takes it home. The snow falls softly and nothing chases anyone. The one dim stretch is three pages as the light goes blue, where the tracks run out at the old bridge and your pet chooses to stay and shelter the hare instead of going home; on the very next page the first lantern lights, and the lane is gold from there to the end.
How far ahead should I order for Christmas?
Every book is made to order and takes about two weeks door to door, so order about three weeks before Christmas Eve, and earlier if you can. After that, the faster shipping offered at checkout can still make it, and the arrival date shown there for your address is the one that counts.
We have a rabbit. Does a rabbit walking a hare home still work?
Yes. The hare is drawn as a hare — brown, with black tips to its ears and no white tail — so your rabbit is never mistaken for it on any page. The story needs an animal that can spend a winter evening out in soft snow under its own power; walking, hopping, trotting, or flying all count. A fish, or any pet that lives in a tank and cannot be out in the cold for an evening, cannot star in this one.
Will the illustrated character look like my pet?
You will see before you pay. Upload one photo and we paint their cover, free, in about a minute — if it is not them, paint it again or try another photo, and you have spent nothing. In the book we keep the details that make them theirs: face shape, ears, coloring and markings, carried through every page. A sharp, well-lit photo of their face gives the best likeness, and a person on our team compares the finished pages to it before printing. If the pet inside the book is not the pet on the cover you approved, we repaint it or refund you.
What makes a good photo?
One pet, facing the camera, in good light — daylight near a window is ideal. We work from what we can actually see, so a photo where the face, coloring, and markings are sharp gives the best likeness. Avoid heavy shadow, a busy background, a costume, or a photo with two pets in it. A phone picture is completely fine; it just needs to be in focus and not cropped so tightly that the head is cut off.
Is the artwork made with AI?
Yes. We generate the illustrations with AI from the photo you upload — it is not painted by hand on paper. Every book is checked by our team before it goes to print, and we never use your photos to train AI models.
What happens to the photo I upload?
It is used to make and check your book, and then we keep it — your photo, what you typed, and the files painted from them — so we can reprint your book if something goes wrong and make your next one without asking for the same photo twice. Ask us to delete it whenever you like: email support@illustratedyou.com, or ask us to close your account. No public gallery, no advertising without asking you first, never used to train AI models.
What does $64.99 include?
A 40-page, 8.5-inch square hardcover printed to order for one animal, painted from your photo on every page, with their name on the cover and a dedication page in your words. A person checks it before it prints, shipping in the U.S. is free, and if it arrives damaged we replace it free.
The same pet, another story
More stories starring your pet
The Great Adventure of Lucy
Their big, brave daytime quest.
Lucy and the Birthday Star
Cake at sundown, and one guest still on her way.
Goodnight, Lucy
A calm goodnight story to end their day.