For someone well known for her expressive and awwww-inducing drawings of pugs, U.K.-based illustrator Gemma Correll came to her love of the animal late. “I was always a cat person growing up, so I think the pug was like my gateway dog,” she said at Magic Pony, an art and design shop on Queen West that is currently hosting The Mr. Pickles Fan Club, the first Canadian exhibition of her work.
Correll’s illustrations depict the stuff of modern life, from movies to uncomfortable dating situations. The pieces on display at Magic Pony make those scenarios even more fraught with awkwardness by showing them through the bulgy eyes of pugs, perhaps the most neurotically loveable breed of dog.
Correll actually didn’t yet have a pug when they began starring in her illustrations. “When I first started drawing them, I hadn’t really seen pugs in England,” she said—the dog isn’t nearly as common there as it is in Toronto. She fell in love with the squash-faced breed when she happened upon a pug meetup at a park during a trip to San Francisco. Her “Pugs Not Drugs” design was one of the first she began making and selling herself, on tote bags. She spent the proceeds on a pug puppy. And so, in a very direct way, her pug illustrations helped bring her dog, Mr. Pickles, into her family. (Another pug, Bella, has since joined as well.)
Mr. Pickles continues to inspire a lot of Correll’s work. He and Bella are well known to those who follow Correll online—she frequently updates her Facebook page with new drawings, and regularly posts photos of the dogs to Instagram. “If it wasn’t for the internet, I don’t know if I’d even be an illustrator,” she said. In-person selling and promotions aren’t her forte, so being able to do that work online is a boon to her business. It also helps her reach new markets; she found out about Magic Pony because of its online shop.
A few Correll-original notes are hanging around the store.
Online back-and-forth with fans provides Correll with camaraderie, and even inspiration for future work. “I enjoy the sharing and communicating with other people and seeing what they like and don’t like,” she explained. “Sometimes people send me ideas. It’s really nice, it’s like having a little community.”
Apparently pugs and beavers are a natural match.
Correll’s show will run at Magic Pony until May 11. The opening was a gathering of Toronto’s pug community, with many people bringing their dogs out to check out the work—including, Correll said, one pug in a tutu. Magic Pony’s Linda Columbus said demand for Correll’s items (which include a one-of-a-kind ukelele, various prints, posters, apparel, and jewellery) has been strong.
Fans of Correll’s book A Cat’s Life should be pleased to know that she’s at work on a follow-up called A Dog’s Life. She has also just completed a sequel to A Pug’s Guide to Etiquette, called A Pug’s Guide to Dating, which comes out in the U.K. this fall. She also hopes to write and draw a children’s book. “I’ve spoken to a few different publishers about doing it,” she said. “I just need to decide what I want to do. Since I was a kid, that’s what I wanted to do—write children’s books.”
Photos by Terri Coles/Torontoist.