A Very Hairy Hedcut + Subtraction.com

It was my birthday yesterday. Among the many nice things that my girlfriend Laura did for me, she also gave me one of the best and certainly one of the most unexpected gifts I’ve ever received on any occasion: an original, authentic hedcut rendering of my dog, Mister President.

The artist, Nancy Januzzi, is one of the senior illustrators at The Wall Street Journal, where Laura works. Like all of the hedcut artists, Nancy delivers a certain amount of gravitas to these manually-intensive, trademark portraits of her subjects, which is why I find this picture so hilarious.

It’s not just that I have an over-the-top preoccupation with my dog. It’s that the portrait manages to capture Mister President’s absurd, deadpan seriousness with uncanny accuracy. If you’re going to render a pet in this definitive, white glove style, his is pretty much the most appropriate expression. At the same time though, he’s a dog, and a pretty goofy one at that, too. The effect is just wonderfully ridiculous. I couldn’t stop laughing.

17 Comments

Joey Pfeifer Thu 4 Dec 2008 at 11:38 pm

That is *really* well done. Happy belated birthday, by the way!

kyle Fri 5 Dec 2008 at 1:26 am

man, that’s awesome. i want a stipple representation of my pets now!

and happy bday khoi!

Cinnamon Fri 5 Dec 2008 at 1:59 am

Happy Birthday, Khoi!

And it must have been a nice break for Nancy to stipple a portrait of someone looking for a different kind of handout than usual. What a dignified fella. And what a thoughtful gift.

Wilson Miner Fri 5 Dec 2008 at 2:45 am

Wow, that is quite a perk! What an excellent gift.

Jason Reed Fri 5 Dec 2008 at 2:54 am

Kudos to your girlfriend… that’s an awesome birthday gift.

Happy Birthday, too!

web design london Fri 5 Dec 2008 at 7:45 am

That a really great gift. I would love to get one done for my wife. Did it cost much? I guess you don’t know. Will see if I can find someone local to do something like this for Christmas.
Thanks you have given me a great gift idea!

Cool baby clothes Fri 5 Dec 2008 at 7:47 am

Nice art work. I have an old english sheep dog and I am sure she would look wonderful drawn like this. I wonder if she would sit still long enough though 🙂

Jonathan Hoefler Fri 5 Dec 2008 at 9:13 am

That’s fantastic! And happy birthday.

Naz Fri 5 Dec 2008 at 10:02 am

That is so awesome! Way to go Laura! Happy Birthday again Khoi – hope you had another good year.

Shane Fri 5 Dec 2008 at 2:09 pm

Happy Birthday!

The headcut rendering is VERY well done indeed.

Christopher Fahey Fri 5 Dec 2008 at 2:45 pm

What I love about it is that it shows just how much the old white guy who is typically rendered in WSJ hedcuts usually looks a lot like a dog.

Or, conversely, Mr. P. looks a lot like an old white guy CEO. Even though, of course, Mr. P. is black.

Jeff Piazza Fri 5 Dec 2008 at 2:47 pm

Awesome gift! Happy Birthday KV.

Darla Dixon Sun 7 Dec 2008 at 9:10 am

This is so beautiful! I create hedcut style portraits, but I’ve never done one of a dog – I can see I need to though! This is so cool! Visit my link for more info on stipple portraits if you are interested in knowing more about them.