From photo to comic hero: how your child’s comic is made

One photo, two cartoon drawings, one hero, and 25 pages where your child saves the day. Here’s every step, and what happens to the photo.

If you’re looking for a personalized book with your child’s photo, this works a little differently from a photo book: we don’t paste the photo onto the pages. Our AI uses it once to draw your child as a cartoon hero, and that hero stars in a digital Christmas comic (online flip-book and printable PDF), with their name in the title and the speech balloons.

About the examples on this page. To show the process we made a short demo story, Nora and the Polar Bear’s Paintbox. Nora isn’t a real child: her photo is AI-generated, and this story isn’t one of our books.

First: a story, a name and a language

On the personalized Christmas comic book page you pick one of our stories, type your child’s name and choose English or Spanish or German or French or Portuguese or Italian or Polish. You see the cover with the name before you pay. After payment you choose the hero: upload a photo or pick one of 2 ready-made heroes. This page follows the photo route.

Example photo: a smiling 7-year-old girl with curly chestnut hair and freckles in a mustard-yellow jumper, at home. AI-generated, not a real child. — Nora, 7: AI-generated example photo. Not a real child.

Step 1: Start with one clear photo

Pick a recent photo where your child’s face is easy to see. A phone photo is perfect; it doesn’t need to be a studio portrait. Daylight from a window works well, and so does a simple background.

Good: Just one child
Good: Face clearly visible and well lit
Good: Everyday clothes
Avoid: Hats or sunglasses
Avoid: Swimwear or bath photos
Avoid: Filters or stickers

We use the photo once, only to draw the hero, and never save it. What happens to it →

Step 2: Our AI draws two versions, and you pick one

From the photo, our AI draws your child as a cartoon hero in the comic’s art style, twice. Choose the version that feels most like them.

Example photo: a smiling 7-year-old girl with curly chestnut hair and freckles in a mustard-yellow jumper. AI-generated, not a real child. — Photo on the left, drawing on the right. AI-generated example, not a real child.

Try it: which version would you pick?

Version A

Version B

The hero is a stylized illustration, not a photo, so it may not be an exact likeness. Not quite right? Try another photo: you get two more drawings and pick from all four. Or pick a ready-made hero. The version you don’t choose is deleted as soon as you pick.

Four more children, four heroes

Example photo: a boy with curly black hair, blue glasses and a missing front tooth. AI-generated, not a real child. — AI-generated example children, not real kids. Each drawing was made from the photo in its corner. In your comic the hero wears the outfit of the story.

Step 3: Your hero jumps into the story

The same hero appears on the pages where they star, with the same face, hair and outfit. The pages are drawn in a 2D animated-film style with dynamic comic layouts.

Picked: version A

Demo comic panel: Nora lands with a splash on a frozen shore under a grey northern sky, and Bruno, an old polar bear in a beret and paint-splashed apron, waves hello with his paintbox.

Demo comic page in three panels: Nora meets Bruno, an old polar-bear painter, under a grey northern sky; she carries his paintbox up glittering ice stairs; then she paints green and violet light across the sky with a giant brush. — Demo page made for this site, not from one of our books. Nora is AI-generated, not a real child.

Their name, lettered into the story

Your child’s name goes on the cover, in the title and in the speech balloons, so the story talks to them. In the demo page here, the polar bear calls out to Nora, and the caption tells how she saved the night.

Some pages show the wider world of the story without the hero. They are the same in every copy, and the hero’s pages are drawn to match them, so the whole comic reads like one book.

Demo story made for this page, not one of our books.

Step 4: Watch the pages appear

Pages are drawn side by side and appear as soon as they’re ready, so the comic is usually ready in a few minutes. With a ready-made hero it’s even quicker.

You don’t have to wait on the page. Comics are bought while signed in, so you can close the tab: sign in again later and your comic waits for you in My gifts.

Illustration only. Not real comic pages.

Step 5: Read it as a flip-book, keep the PDF

Page-turn animation on phone, tablet or computer
A PDF download to keep
Kept in your account for 12 months after it’s ready

Read it together on the sofa on Christmas Eve, on a tablet or a computer, and download the PDF so you can keep it after the 12 months.

One of our real stories, shown with the name Mia.

Prefer not to use a photo?

Choose one of two ready-made heroes: Leo or Mia. No photo is uploaded at all, and your child’s name still goes on the cover and in the speech balloons.

LeoFair skin, short brown hair
MiaFair skin, red braids

What happens to the photo and drawings

What	What happens to it
The photo	Used once, only to draw the hero. We never save it: not in our database, file storage or logs. It is sent to our AI provider Replicate, which uses an OpenAI image model. Replicate deletes it within 1 hour; OpenAI may keep it for up to 30 days for abuse monitoring.
Hero drawings	Deleted 30 days after your comic is ready. A version you don’t choose is deleted as soon as you pick the other one.
The comic	Kept for 12 months, or until you delete it in My gifts.

We don’t use the photo, the drawings or the comic to train AI models. Before a photo can be uploaded, you confirm that you’re the child’s parent or legal guardian, or have their permission. The full details are in our privacy policy.

About the art style

Every comic has a 2D animated-film look, dynamic comic layouts and 3:4 pages. The illustrations are made with AI, and the comic says so. Small differences between pages can happen, as they do with any illustrated hero. If a page has a technical fault, such as a missing or broken page or unreadable text, contact us and we’ll fix it.

Questions about photos and drawings

What kind of photo works best?

A recent, well-lit photo of just one child with the face clearly visible, in everyday clothes. A phone photo is perfect. Avoid hats, sunglasses, filters and stickers, and never use swimwear or bath photos.

Will the drawing look exactly like my child?

It’s a stylized illustration, not a photo, so it captures the main features, like hair, freckles and smile, but it may not be an exact likeness, and small details can vary between pages. That’s why you get two versions and choose the one that feels most like your child.

Can I use a photo with two children?

Please use a photo of just one child. Each comic has one hero, and a photo with several people makes it harder to draw the right one.

What if neither version looks right?

Choose “Neither looks right? Try another photo” and upload a different one. You get two more drawings and can then pick from all four. Each order includes 2 photo attempts. Automated safety filters occasionally refuse a perfectly normal photo. If that happens, try another photo or pick a ready-made hero, which is always available, so your comic can always be finished.

Who can upload a child’s photo?

Only the child’s parent or legal guardian, or someone who has their permission. You confirm this before the upload, and you can always choose a ready-made hero instead.

Is the photo used to train AI?

No. We do not use the photo, the drawings or the comic to train AI models.

Meet the stories and the heroes

See the two Christmas stories and the ready-made heroes.

About the comic book