Growing up, Mitch Boyer‘s family moved around. A lot. So the illustrator and art director was inspired to create a picture book to help children deal with the big changes that come with moving to a new town. And who better to help him do it than his sassy, larger-than-life dachshund, Vivian?
Mitch’s dog became his muse for the book. Using Photoshop, he blew her up to an epic six feet tall. In each image, Vivian exemplifies the struggles of ‘fitting in’ to a new environment.
How the composites are made
Due to the expense and labor involved in a project of this scope, Mitch and his collaborator Valerie Navarro decided to use Kickstarter to fund the creation of the book.
Selfie with the human. New York is okay, I guess. #viviandog #vivzilla
A photo posted by Vivian (@iamvivianthedog) on
To no surprise, they exceeded their goal of $20,000 in just under a week! (If you want a copy from the first batch, you can still become a backer.)
Mitch and Vivian (actual size)