Doolydoo Turns your Kids’ Drawings into 3D Printed Collectable Statues

The parents of a young child, almost without exception, will have a refrigerator covered with drawings, doodles, and artwork. The family refrigerator art gallery is something that crosses borders and nationalities, but unfortunately most of those memories will be lost to time and the fragility of the paper they were drawn on. Some parents keep boxes full of their children’s artwork, while others try to laminate them or create scrapbooks. Realistically, once children’s artwork is taken off display it will most likely not be seen again.

But those memories don’t have to be shoved in a box or the back of a drawer any longer. Doolydoo is a new service that can transform any piece of full-color, two-dimensional artwork into a three-dimensional statue or plaque. The artwork will be 3D printed in full color, so the only thing that the original artwork will be losing is the lack of a third dimension.

The process is pretty straightforward: once the Doolydoo team receives a scan of your artwork, they use 3D modeling software to convert it into a three-dimensional object. Just be sure that you send in artwork that has a recognizable shape for them to work with (however, if the artwork that you submitted will not work, Doolydoo will contact you and let you know). Once the basic shape of the statue is defined, Doolydoo’s 3D artists will modify the artwork to create a backside to the statue for the full 3D effect.

“Our figurines keep as much of the character and colors of the original drawing as possible. After uploading the drawing you can choose between two types, figurine or plaque, and 3 sizes. Almost all drawings will work.  A figurine is based on the main subject of the drawing (e.g., an animal, person, or car). Pictures with more details are better suited for plaques where we print the entire drawing with individual elements protruding or recessing,” explained Doolydoo co-founder Markus May.

Doolydoo has two different materials available to print your artwork in, offering a sandstone-like material made from gypsum powder or from powdered plastic polymer. Both materials are bound together with a cyanoacrylate glue coating that intensifies and preserves the original colors, and makes the statues considerably more durable.

There are three different sizes available for either a statue or a plaque, each available in the plastic or gypsum powder materials. A small, 4″ statue will cost about $85, a medium 5.5″ statue will cost $116, and a large 6.5″ statue will cost about $180. For the plaques, a small 4″ x 6″ piece costs $138, while a 5″ x 7″ plaque will cost $201 and a 7″ x 9.5″ plaque will set you back $265.

Doolydoo is not the first company to offer 3D statues from your children’s 2D artwork, but they do offer worldwide shipping from two different countries. Depending on which area is closer to you, your statue can be shipped from their production center either in Germany or in Hong Kong. Typically it takes about three weeks for delivery, although it may be longer depending on which country you are ordering from.

Just remember, the statues and plaques created by Doolydoo are not toys that your children should be playing with, but are meant to be unique keepsakes for display purposes only. While the glue coating does strengthen the statue, it is still fragile and should be treated as such. Additionally, the color inks used during printing are not food (or curious little mouth) safe and shouldn’t be ingested.

Would you use a service like Doolydoo to preserve your children’s artwork? Tell us what you would do with your statues over on the Doolydoo 3D Printed Collectable Statues forum thread over on 3DPB.com.