Custom Tips
How to Choose the Right Photo for a Custom Figurine
The single biggest factor in how much your figurine looks like you is the photo you send. Here is what sculptors actually need — and the four photo mistakes that cost people a week of revisions.
By Mia Chen · · Updated · 6 min read
选照片流程封面
A custom figurine is only as good as its reference material. Sculptors are not guessing — they are reading bone structure, hairline, and the shape of a jaw off whatever you upload. A great photo cuts a week off the proof cycle. A bad one adds two.
Here is what actually matters, in order.
1. Even, natural light beats resolution
A 12-megapixel phone photo taken near a window will always beat a 50-megapixel shot taken under a ceiling light. Overhead lighting drops shadows into the eye sockets and under the nose, and those shadows read as facial structure that is not there.
If you can only shoot indoors, stand facing a window with the light on your face, not behind you.
2. Send three angles, not one perfect one
One front-facing photo tells us the face. A three-quarter angle tells us the nose profile and how the ears sit. A full-body shot tells us proportions and posture. Together they remove almost all guesswork.
- Front, at eye level, neutral expression or a natural smile
- Three-quarter turn, same lighting if possible
- Full body standing, so we can read height and build
- For pets: add one at their eye level, from the floor
3. The four things that force a revision
Almost every revision request we get traces back to one of these:
- Sunglasses or a hat brim covering the eyes and hairline
- Heavy filters that smooth away the nose bridge and jawline
- Group photos cropped so tightly the face is under 200 pixels wide
- Photos taken from far below, which distorts the chin and neck
4. Old and imperfect photos are usually fine
For memorial pieces especially, people apologise for the quality of what they have. You do not need to. Scanned prints, slightly out-of-focus film shots and screenshots from old video have all produced excellent figurines. Send everything you have and let us assemble the details across them.
What we cannot fix is a face that is genuinely not visible. If that is the situation, we will tell you at the proof stage rather than after production.
What happens after you upload
Your photos go to a sculptor, not a machine. Within three to four working days you get 3D preview renders from several angles. Nothing is printed or painted until you say yes, and revisions at that stage are free.