A graphic design of a buff, aggressive looking sparkledog wielding a giant pencil. The dog is pink, blue and white, with black scene hair. He has top surgery scars on his chest. He is snarling, showing sharp teeth and red eyes. The sharpened tip of the pencil is drawing a shooting star.
Text on the design says:
REAL TEETH
REAL WORK
REAL ART
#TrueRef
There are a couple of meanings to the design.
Firstly, the motive of a sparkledog was chosen because I, as someone who grew up in old deviantart in the late 2000s/early2010s, associate this era of online art with a lot of mental and creative freedom that almost feels lost to time these days. The fear of being cringe and the quickness of mockery has killed a lot of artists' drive to create truly unabashed, genuine work. To me, a sparkledog is a symbol of that youthful, almost naive creative freedom which doesn't know the pressure of shame.
The second meaning is similar in theme - queerness. The impact and pride of queer art, of being true to oneself, is aggressively artistic, it's making it know that we are here and have always been here - and will always be here.
The third message is a general anti-AI one. The dog holding a pencil, and the statement REAL WORK and REAL ART are referencing this stance.
I made this for @trueref.bsky.social's t-shirt design contest on the theme "aggressively pro-artist"
My immediate idea for the theme was a sparkledog, my full reasoning for it is written in alt text! <:
