For my design process, I began by selecting an image of my dog named Butters. With numerous pictures saved on my phone, I carefully chose one that would serve as my template in Illustrator. I promptly initiated the illustration process, utilizing the curvature pen tool to outline her body, tail, ears, ear canals, and white fur spots. Additionally, I employed the shape tool, later refining the shapes with the curvature pen tool to achieve the desired form. I adjusted the shape of the eyes and utilized the pathfinder shape modes to subtract small circles, creating her eye pupils.

The brush tool played a role in crafting her facial wrinkles. Although I initially intended to use the width tool on the wrinkles, I had to adhere to the Printful instructions, which required strokes to be 4pt or higher. Considering the limitations on thread colors for embroidery designs on Printful, where only 7 thread colors were available, I carefully selected 4 colors (1672 Old Gold, 1784 Maroon #660000, 1801 White #FFFFFF, and 1800 Black #000000) that best suited my design. I used these colors to fill in the various shapes, including the dog footprints, which I created with the curvature pen tool and filled in black.

Upon completing my design, I chose to outline all the strokes on the entire illustration. Although not strictly necessary, I opted for this step just in case it would be beneficial for Printful.

My concept was to create a dog design that I would cherish and that would stand the test of time. This led me to choose embroidery for my design. The end result successfully captures the essence of a dog, resonating with viewers. However, if I were to make a change, I would reconsider the size of the eye pupils. Unfortunately, the embroidery didn't replicate the original design due to the small size of the white circles, resulting in overlap when stitched onto the hoodie. Despite this, the remaining elements of the design retained their original quality. I look forward to wearing this hoodie in the winter, and it will hold even more sentimental value when my dog Butters passes.