This week we got to chat with Euge, the creator of Puglie Pug! If you’re not familiar with adventures of this cute ball of floof here’s a quick Puglie history lesson.

Puglie is the adorable creation of Euge Leung, a Canadian artist who started out selling their artwork at a variety of local conventions. After experiencing an artistic block Euge asked what it was that they truly wanted to draw. The answer, “fat stupid things, and food.”

Recalling the enjoyment of creating a previous art print entitled “Pug Life” Euge began drawing a variety of pugs before the character Puglie was finally born. "I then drew the fatty in a doughnut. And I laughed. And it was the first time my art truly made me happy. And from then on, he continued to make me happy”.

Having recently made the jump to full time Puglie creation, Euge hopes to be able to spread Puglie’s message of love and fun with charity streams, donations to those in need, and other “feel good things”.

When asked where they find inspiration for their Puglie creations they said, “

I find my main inspiration through collectible toys and Japanese character brands. I love that collectible toys can be appealing to a variety of people, mostly young adults, and are unlimited in their freedom to add some cheeky humour, mature content, or just be as cute as can be. For Japanese characters, like Rilakkuma and Gudetama, I just love how those characters can expand through a variety of merchandise and mediums, and eventually develop into their own store and once-in-a-while themed cafes, which gives the ultimate look and feel experience for fans to enjoy.”

Wondering what a day of pug creation looks like? Here’s the breakdown of Euge’s process: “I get myself a cup of hot milk tea, and also make sure I’m full because I will be staring at food for well over 3 hours. When I know what food I'm doing (which I have a long list of ideas for), I hop on Google to look for 5-10 reference photos.

From there, I start drawing in Photoshop in a light blue brush to get a good handle on what the Puglie will look like. I spend the majority of the drawing in this phase as I’ll often be figuring out how to fit whatever it is on Puglie’s body and making sure the food is readable.

After I’m happy with the drawing, I start a new layer for the clean line art, and then color with a lasso tool and brush to make it complete.”

We asked Euge for the best advice they have ever been given as an artist. Their inspiring words will stay with us forever.

“Don’t do anything for free,” and along the same line, “F**k you, pay me."

Shop more of PUGLIE's here!