WP2 Exercise 1:

In this illustration by Natalie Dee, she depicts a dog with a heart above its head. The dog’s facial expression seems to make him look rather lost, sad or confused. In the background you can see that the dog has recently gone to the bathroom. Instead of a normal looking piece of waste, this dog has pooped in the shape of what appears to be a heart.

The dog seems to be the main focus of the cartoon because it is closer in the line of view and takes up the most space out of all three objects that are depicted. It is also the object that has the most detail. Although it is by no means a perfect picture of a dog, it gives enough evidence to be a convincing depiction. Natalie Dee uses black outlines and two different colors of brown to outline the shape of the dog’s face. In the darker brown color the dog has two ears which further develop the head as one that would belong to a dog. She also draws a blue band with a gold circle attached to it which you can recognize as a collar, something a typical domestic dog would wear.

The dog’s facial expression is something that I think is an important part of this picture. His eyes are wide and perfectly round. There are many emotions that you can associate with this for example, surprise, horror or maybe being possessed. If you move down to his mouth, it is slightly opened and his bottom teeth are showing. This can be associated with emotions involving the drop of the jaw like confusion, sorrow or perhaps disbelief. To me, this dog looks like he or she needs help, almost like it is looking for an answer.
There is a pink heart located right above the dog’s head. Hearts are usually associated with love so this could be some sort of symbol in this illustration. There is a short line between the top of its head and the bottom of the heart which makes it look like the dog and the heart are connected. This could mean that the dog is thinking about love or maybe it is a status marker, he is in love or someone else has his or her heart.

The last object in the picture is the piece of poop left behind by the dog. It appears as though the dog did his business and has now walked closer to the viewer where he is pictured. The interesting thing about it is that it is also heart shaped. This brings about the question of why Natalie Dee depicted it this way.

The dog, heart and heart-shaped poo all work together to make a scene that could almost tell a story within itself. When you take into consideration his facial expression along with the heart, you realize some form of love or relationship is on the dog’s mind, but when you see this shape repeated in the background, it enforces this theme ever farther.