Elf Photo Template

How to make a photo elf

1. Pick a photo. On a phone the button offers the camera or the gallery. A face looking straight at the camera, in daylight, with the hair visible works best; a phone photo of any size is fine, because the page only needs the face. Group photos work too: zoom in on one face.
2. Fit the face. Drag the photo until the face sits in the oval, and pinch (or scroll, or use the Zoom slider) until the chin touches the bottom of the oval and the eyebrows sit a little above the middle. The hat, hood or beard overlaps the top and edges of the oval, the way a costume would, so the forehead can go under the hat brim.
3. Choose the figure and the skin tone. Eight figures, each a child in a costume: elf, girl elf, Santa, Mrs Claus, reindeer, angel, snowman and gingerbread person. The hands and neck come in five tones, from light to dark, so they match the face in the photo.
4. Print at “Actual size” or 100 %. On A4 one figure is 27.5 cm tall with a face oval of 61 × 77 mm (on US Letter 25.7 cm and 57 × 72 mm); “Two at half size” puts two 18.8 cm figures on a landscape sheet. Ordinary 80 g/m² paper is fine for a wall or a door; card of 160 to 200 g/m² survives being handled and taped to a present. Most home printers print photos best on the “Photo” or “High” quality setting.
5. Cut it out. Cut round the outline and leave a thin white edge: it hides small wobbles and makes the figure stand out on a coloured door. Glue a lolly stick behind it for a puppet, or punch a hole in the hat and tie a ribbon for a tree ornament.

A class set for a classroom door or display

Press “Class set”, then “Add pupils' photos” and select all the photos at once (on a phone, pick several in the gallery). Each photo becomes one pupil: type the name under it, press Place to fit that face on the big preview, and use the arrows under the preview to go through the class. Every pupil prints exactly once, with their own photo and name; a pupil without a photo prints an empty oval to draw a face in. Choose 1, 2 or 4 figures a page: 2 a page gives 17.7 cm figures with a 39 × 50 mm face (A4), big enough to read across a corridor; 4 a page saves paper for a large class. Ticking “Mix all eight figures” lets the costumes take turns, so a door of 28 pupils has elves, reindeer, snowmen and gingerbread people side by side. The header strip prints “Our class elves” (or whatever you type, up to 40 characters) twice on a landscape sheet, each strip 7.8 cm tall and 27.9 cm long on A4 (26.1 cm on Letter): pin one above the figures, or trim the ends and join both for a wider door. Until you add a photo the preview shows a drawn sample pupil; downloaded without any pupils, the sheet has empty ovals and blank name lines to fill in by hand.

Templates with no face

“No face” prints the same figures with the face left empty, for children who would rather draw themselves or for a craft table without a printer next to it. “Empty oval to draw in” leaves a white oval with a solid line; the page states its size (61 × 77 mm for one figure on A4). “Window for a photo behind” prints the oval as a dashed cut line: cut it out, then tape a printed photo, or a cut-out from an old school picture, behind the hole. The page footer gives the size the photo needs to be, 10 mm larger than the window each way so the tape has something to hold. “Print all eight figures” prints the whole set: eight pages at one a page, or two pages at 4 a page.

Questions

Is this the Elf Yourself app?

No. This is not the Elf Yourself app or website, and it has nothing to do with Elf on the Shelf. Those make dancing videos or sell a doll; this page makes a still, printable paper figure, and every figure on it is drawn by Polyatic. There is no account and no video.

Is my child's photo uploaded anywhere?

No. Your browser opens the photo from your device, shrinks it to at most 1,600 pixels on its longest side and keeps it in this tab's memory while you work. The crop, the figure, the PDF and the PNG are all made by your own browser. Nothing is sent to Polyatic or to anyone else, nothing is written to storage or the address bar, and “Start again” or closing the tab removes it. The only thing the page counts is that a file was downloaded and which button made it.

Is it free? Is there a watermark?

Free, with no sign-up, no watermark and no paid version. Every output is a PDF on A4 or US Letter (the page guesses from your device's language and you can switch) or a PNG at 300 dots per inch, the resolution print shops ask for.

The face looks blurry when printed. Why?

The oval on a full A4 figure is 77 mm tall, so for a sharp print at 300 dpi the face in the photo should be at least about 900 pixels tall. A face cut from a wide group photo or a screenshot may be only 150 pixels tall and will print soft however it is placed; use a closer photo, or choose “Two at half size” or 4 a page, where the oval is smaller.

Can I put a grown-up's or a pet's face in it?

Yes. The oval takes any photo: a grandparent as Santa, a teacher as Mrs Claus, the dog as the reindeer. The figures are drawn with a child's proportions, so adults look endearingly small, which is usually the point.

What else goes with it?

The Christmas hat template makes real elf and Santa hats to wear, the letter from Santa can mention the elf by name, and the name coloring page keeps a class busy while the figures print.