We here at Dogster HQ work with a top-notch illustrator. So our site gets top-notch illustrations. We also work in a new office space where the walls are white or gray. So we got an opportunity to be “Best in Show,” as it were, when it comes to décor.

Our illustrator, who we usually dub “the always-awesome Nigel Sussman,” agreed to paint something — a really BIG something — on a 4-by-4-foot piece of plywood bolted to a very dull gray wall.

It’s not dull anymore.

Sussman has done many works for Dogster and Catster — including a comical enhancement of Suri Cruise longing for a pet-store puppy, a rendition of Managing Editor Vicky Walker’s cat skull backed by the Union Jack, and a couple of works for a post aimed at breaking the stereotypes that usually surround Pit Bulls. He even created the wallpaper you see on our sites. So he was an obvious choice to help create the art that surrounds us while we’re here on duty.

Dogster Editor-in-Chief Janine Kahn gave Sussman several photos of dogs, asked him to take his pick and have at our wall. So he came over, looked the wall up and down, and said something to the effect of, “It’ll be up tomorrow.”

And it was.

He made a time-lapse video (embedded below) of the work by setting up a camera and taking still photos every few minutes from start to finish.

Dogster – Painting Time Lapse from nigel sussman on Vimeo.

Our work area is long and open, and from one entrance, the Italian Greyhound is the first thing you see when you round the corner from the door. It’s striking in bright copper, blue, and yellow hues. It’s rendered somewhere between “comic book” and “photorealist,” so its definition and volume are pronounced, especially from afar.

Wherever you are in the Dogster work area, the pup’s eyes meet yours. It’s an overt and friendly reminder of why we do what we do, day in and day out.

We just hope the dog doesn’t mind when the cat décor goes up, seeing that this is also Catster HQ.

EIC’s Note: Thank you, Nigel! We owe you a nice lunch!