Good Dog has been a long time coming, I started this project back in early July, and kept coming back to it over time – tweaking adding and moving those anchor points.

The inception of this work was to create something that was cartoon-like, but also with the edge of street art.

I’ve been a huge fan of Keith Haring since the 80s – and this work is as close to that style as I dare go while keeping it my own thing.

Some influences include London Street Art, Julian Opie, Haring & Tin Tin. Also, I love the ‘kawaii’ cute style of Matsui 9988 and Sanrio, so the drawings have a stylised but not realistic quality. It’s how I see a Labrador’s personality.

Good Dog is 100% code, maths to make art. Every line is a Bezier curve. These are created in a grid that centres around the head, I used sketches and mental maths and a lot of trial and error to hand paint each stroke in code literally. It's painstaking but rewarding.

The original versions used a landscape or portrait format – but the composition felt clunky, so I reverted to a square image. The first drawing was the head – this took some time, then seated, standing, downward stretch and finally the sleeping ‘snuggle’.

From the offset, I played with 2 and 3 dogs all patiently watching ‘something’, perfectly in sync. This remains a feature.

The fills and backgrounds are a mixture of some new designs and a couple of old favourites from Internal Monologue and Dazzle. I really wanted a 70’s 80’s wallpaper vibe.

So, there’s a little bit about Good Dog, it's my most fun and irreverent work, be it a fast or slow mint – I hope it brings some joy.

PS? Is it a PFP? It was never the intention to create a PFP – no hats!! But it works as one.

WIP images