Cinematic
Epic light and painterly drama, your story told like a film's concept art.
Gift guide · Father's Day
A Father's Day Gift Beyond the Necktie
Fathers are hard to shop for because they insist they need nothing. A book about him, the legendary road trip, the garage workshop, the joke he has told at every dinner since 2009, is not something he needs. It is something he will not put down.
Cinematic concept art makes his ordinary scenes look like film stills. Comic book style leans into the humour. Vintage engraving gives the family patriarch treatment.
Kids' drawings, old photos, the dog: everything can be worked into the illustrations. You approve the proof first, so the running joke lands exactly the way you told it.
Before you order
- The last sensible order date
- For a printed book, start about three weeks before the day: a few days for the proof, then one to two weeks for printing and delivery. Leaving it late does not sink the gift: print the proof on the day you approve it, and let the book itself arrive a few days later.
- The detail to build it around
- For books about fathers, a repeating pursuit works best: the fishing mornings you went on together, the same car being fixed for years, the line he says at every match.
- Funny or heartfelt?
- You choose the tone in the order form. For a father who takes a joke well, a quietly funny book gets read more often than a heavy one. If you are unsure, you can change it at the proof stage.
Styles that suit the occasion
Four illustration worlds we reach for most often. There are twenty-four in total.
Comic Book
Bold inked outlines, dynamic energy and halftone shading, graphic-novel heroics.
Vintage Engraving
Fine etched lines and sepia tones, like a treasured book from another century.
Retro Mid-Century
1950s-60s picture-book charm, textured shapes, limited inks, playful geometry.
How it works
Send a few photos and the moment you want remembered. We write an original story, illustrate every page in your chosen style, and send you a digital proof. You approve it before any payment is taken; then we print and ship the hardcover.
The whole process, step by stepFrom the journal
Start their book
Most books are proofed within days. Tell us the moment; we do the rest.
Begin the storyHardcover, $137.50, shipping included. You approve a digital proof before paying.