Bored Panda reached out to Winnie Au to learn more about her new book and creative process. The artist shared that "Cone of Shame" is dedicated to her late dog Tartine, a sweet corgi she and her husband, Flo, adopted. "After losing Tartine to throat cancer and facing overwhelming vet bills, I decided to use this project to help others. A portion of every book sold is donated to Animal Haven's Recovery Road fund, supporting rescue dogs with medical needs.

"My hope with this series is that we are able to reclaim the sadness and humiliation a dog may feel while it’s in recovery and help people see the transformative nature that medical treatment might have on their dog. I basically want to remind people that there is a proud and beautiful dog in there."

Each image showcases playful cone designs by costume designer Marie-Yan Morvan, who custom-made all the pieces in the series. According to Winnie, Marie would spend weeks preparing for each photo shoot, using unique and surprising materials like silk flowers, pool noodles, sponges, coffee filters, and more.

"Our biggest challenge was often trying to take something from the idea phase to reality. In many instances, I might send Marie-Yan an idea of an object, plant, or food I found interesting as inspiration, and then she would figure out how we could make the cone in real life. For example, one of the cones we created is supposed to look like cotton candy, so Marie-Yan used batting and dyed it with pigment to create the same look. Another cone was inspired by a sea urchin, and Marie-Yan very creatively designed a similar shape using drinking straws. Each cone for this book was carefully crafted to be safe for the dogs to wear during the photo shoot—they had to be lightweight, non-toxic, and not something the dog would spend the whole shoot gobbling up. Some materials I wanted to use looked cool but just didn’t end up working because they were too heavy for the dogs to wear.

The most rewarding aspect was definitely seeing everything come to life in front of us and just creating something from scratch that we personally hadn’t made or seen before. The constraints of working with dogs and the freedom to keep coming up with designs and concepts were just super fun."

"Both Marie-Yan and I worked on ideas for the portraits—either by starting with cone-specific ideas that we would then match to the right dog, or we might find a very interesting-looking dog and try to craft a cone idea around it. Some of the cones were inspired by things like a lampshade, mushrooms, candy, or noodles. Others, like the deflated balloons, were inspired by my dog Clementine’s long ear shape. In Patch the Dalmatian’s image, the backdrop and cone are clearly inspired by Patch’s print. We just didn’t know until we saw it in person how perfectly his cone would match—so much so that he literally disappeared in front of our eyes."

While every dog had its own charm, Winnie said that Calvin the Komondor’s time on set was truly unforgettable. "He looks like a giant mop—it was hard to find his face. Komondors are a lot of maintenance. He had apparently had 2-3 baths the week of the photo shoot to be ready. And to go on a walk, all of his cords had to be put in ponytails so that he wouldn’t get any pee on himself. It’s quite the sight to see. When we captured Calvin’s portrait, we definitely leaned into the mopiness of his look, and his main image is one where you don’t even see his eyes. The idea is for someone to really have no idea where the cone and dog begin and end. I love how surreal and abstract it came out. Even when we were all on set with Calvin, we knew that what I was photographing was both beautiful and really weird."

Working with animals can be unpredictable, so we asked Winnie to share a funny or unexpected moment from a photo shoot that illustrates the chaos and joy of working with dogs.

"Some of our dog models did not want to stay still, so to get them in one spot, it would be my assistant’s job to pet their back/butt until they were content, and meanwhile, I would zoom in on a close-up shot of the dog’s face to get something that looked elegant and not at all like a dog who was getting overly pampered behind the scenes.

Bowie the husky mix came to set with his own emotional support animal named Uma. Uma is another husky mix and his best friend, and they are inseparable. So throughout Bowie’s photo shoot, Uma sat about 10 feet away, cheering him on.

I won’t name names, but there was definitely at least one dog who pooped inside our studio on one of the backdrops. Luckily, the painted canvas is wipeable! Surprisingly, it did not happen a lot. It just comes with the territory of working with animals."

You can learn more about "Cone of Shame" and explore the unique artistry behind the book on Winnie Au’s official website here. If you’d like to support her work and bring home a copy, Cone of Shame is available for purchase at Barnes & Noble.