A mug mockup is a photo-style image of your design on a mug in a real setting: a kitchen counter, a desk, two hands around it, a table of wrapped gifts. The hard part is the curve. A flat design bends around the mug, so only the side facing the camera reads clearly and the edges look squeezed. Below are mug sizes worked out in inches, notes to stage a printed mug in Toybox AI's Product Mockup, free and 3D mug mockup generators, and what each route can't do.
Mug sizes and how much of the design a photo shows
A mug's height and width decide how your artwork sits on it. Printful's white glossy mug, printed by sublimation (heat that sets dye into the surface), came in these sizes as of September 2026. The distance around is the diameter times pi (3.14):
| Mug | Height | Diameter | Distance around |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 oz | 3.8 in (9.6 cm) | 3.2 in (8.2 cm) | About 10.1 in |
| 15 oz | 4.7 in (11.9 cm) | 3.3 in (8.5 cm) | About 10.4 in |
| 20 oz | 4.3 in (10.9 cm) | 3.7 in (9.3 cm) | About 11.6 in |
A camera sees at most half of that distance at once, about 5 inches on an 11 oz mug, and the parts near the edges curve away from the lens. Three things follow for a mug mockup design:
- A wraparound print needs two images. Show one side with the handle on the left and the other with the handle on the right.
- Put the important part in the middle of each side. Lettering near the edge of the visible half looks squeezed in any photo, real or AI.
- Show the size being sold. The 15 oz is 0.9 inches taller than the 11 oz and only 0.1 inches wider, so the same art sits differently. Photograph each size you list.
What you can make with a mug mockup
Order or print one mug, photograph it, and Product Mockup will set it in the scenes below while aiming to keep its shape, colors and print. You get one picture per run: choose the listed Scene, then type or paste the notes into "Anything else?".
Morning coffee on the counter
Pick Workspace, or Custom with "on a kitchen counter in the morning", and add:
The mug sits on a light wood kitchen counter, handle to the right, filled with black coffee and a little steam. A folded linen napkin and a small plate with a croissant rest farther back, out of focus. Early sun comes through a kitchen window at the left. Camera level with the middle of the mug, the printed side turned toward the lens with even light across it.Held in two hands
Pick In hand, so buyers can judge the mug's size against two hands:
Two hands hold the mug by its sides and handle, sweater sleeves pulled over the wrists, printed side facing the camera and left uncovered. A cozy living room behind, softly out of focus. Soft light from the front with no glare across the print. Mug and hands fill the middle of the picture.Holiday gift scenes
For fourth-quarter gift listings, pick Custom with "on a table with wrapped gifts", and add:
The mug stands beside two small gifts wrapped in kraft paper and red twine, with a sprig of pine and a few cinnamon sticks on a white wooden table. Warm string lights blur into soft circles in the background. Camera slightly above the rim, looking down at a gentle angle. Keep the print facing the camera and sharp.Close-up of the print
Pick Studio for a detail shot buyers can zoom into:
Close-up of the printed side of the mug filling most of the frame, handle just visible at the right edge. Plain soft gray backdrop. Light from the upper left, angled so the glossy surface shows one small highlight away from the design. Keep every letter and line of the print sharp and unchanged.Tips for better results on a curved mug
- Photograph every printed side. Turn the mug so the handle points left, shoot, then turn it to point right and shoot again. Run both photos with the same notes.
- Move the glare off the print. Glossy ceramic mirrors windows and lamps. Rotate the mug or step to the side until the bright reflection falls on a blank area, then take the photo.
- Shoot at the height you want in the listing. Level with the middle of the mug shows the print flattest. A photo from above shows the rim and the inside, which suits a coffee-filled scene.
- Give it a landscape frame. A mug with its handle out to one side is wider than it is tall, so Landscape 3:2 or Square 1:1 wastes less space than Portrait.
- Fill it for lifestyle scenes. An empty mug in a breakfast scene looks staged. Ask for coffee, tea or hot chocolate in the notes, then check that the print still matches your mug.
Free, online and 3D mug mockup generators
For a design file with no printed sample, these routes place your art on a mug model or photo:
- Supplier generators. Printful charges nothing for mockups of anything it sells, mugs included, and the result shows your file on the mug it will print. Printify's generator is free for its own products too.
- Canva. In the Canva editor, open Mockups in the side panel, find mug mockups under Home & living, and drag in an uploaded image or an existing Canva design. Scale the design to fit or fill the mug's print area, rotate or flip it if needed, then download. Canva's generator for mugs costs nothing.
- 3D mug tools. A 3D mug mockup is a digital model you can spin to any angle, so you can check where a wraparound design meets itself at the handle. MUG3D is a free browser tool that renders your design on a 3D mug, downloads a PNG, and records a WEBM video of it turning.
- PSD templates. Free mug templates open in Photopea in the browser, and the smart-object walkthrough on the t-shirt page applies to them too. Check each file's license before using it in a listing.
Limits to know
- Product Mockup doesn't wrap a file onto a blank mug. It moves the mug in your photo into a new setting, as it was shot. A flat artwork file uploaded instead stays flat, like a printed sheet, rather than curving around a mug.
- The AI concept route bends the art its own way. Image Generator accepts your artwork as one of its "Reference photos" plus a description like "this design printed on a white 11 oz ceramic mug on a kitchen counter". The curve, size and colors may not match your file, so keep it for concepts.
- One side per image. No single photo or AI scene shows the whole wrap. Budget two images for a two-sided design, currently 150 credits.
- Reflections and small text can change. Check lettering near the edges of the print and any highlight that crosses the design. A Pro plan lets you request a correction in "Want to change something?" for a current 85 credits.
- No transparent mug cutouts. Toybox results always include a backdrop. Studio gives the plainest one, an AI-made white backdrop that can come out slightly off pure white.
How to make your mug mockup in Product Mockup
Start with a photo of the printed mug, saved as JPG or PNG and kept under 10 MB.
- Stand the mug on white paper near a window, handle to one side, and take the photo level with its middle.
- Visit Product Mockup, sign up free or log in, and put the photo in "Product photo".
- Choose the Scene: Workspace, In hand, Studio, or Custom, typing a setting of up to 180 characters.
- Open More options, set Size to Landscape 3:2 for most mugs, and fill in "Anything else?" with your notes.
- Hit Create mockup; results tend to appear in about 30 seconds.
- Compare the print, the handle and the glaze color with your sample, especially lettering near the edges.
- Run the photo of the other side the same way, then keep both by saving them or downloading the PNGs.
Mugs run on the Free plan at a current 75 credits per image, or roughly 75 cents at top-up prices. If the same art goes on other merch, the tote bag scene notes and the sticker mockup page cover those, and the print-on-demand listing guide lays out a full set of images.