Animals and Birds Travel Mugs

I've had a bit of fun last month creating mugs with animal and bird themes. Here are just a few examples:

Fox cub:

Panther:

Hummingbirds:

Pets

One of the orders I got during the Holiday Season was for a pet mug. When I heard that, I'd assumed it would be a puppy or a kitten. But this project turned out to be a lot more unique. The pets in question? Why here they are:

I loved working on these but I must admit I am looking forward to painting a puppy one day ;)

By the way, have you entered the giveaway yet? Check back tomorrow to find out the winner!

Ducks and butterflies

I am still going strong with my pottery painting kick and somewhat surprisingly finding a measure of success with it.

I had a lot of fun this week combining illustration and pottery design for a very sweet custom order. The husband ordered this pair of matching mugs for his wife of 20 years. The direction I got is that he should be the duck and she the butterfly and they should show a connection to each other.

Here is what I came up with. What do you think?

Panda and bellerina duet

This was a commissioned piece that left for itd new home last week.

IF - Hurry!

Hurry Little Elephant or Miss Butterfly is going to be late for her party!

Illustration Friday - Kernel

This chipmunk might have gotten the nut but he will have to work hard to get at the kernel.

A fun topic for Illustration Friday this week :)

Jumping into Mommy's Arms

Mommy's arms are the best and the safest place to be...

There is no new prompt for Illustration Friday today, and I think jumping into mommy's arms fits well with last week's word "Jump" so I am going to submit another entry :)

I appreciate and read each and every comment and would love to hear what you think!

Illustration Friday - Heights

There is nothing like free-falling to experience the true majesty and exhilaration of heights.

I love that I got to relieve a great moment in my life while working on this week's Illustration Friday topic - heights. Unfortunately this was not my most successful effort. I couldn't quite get the feel of height here. In retrospect, maybe I should have made the ground look like a patchwork of squares (thanks to one of my facebook fans for the suggestion!), or place the line of the horizon lower on the page. I also think that I lost something in the final version compared to the original sketch:

The bunny especially has a more carefree, open expression here. I lost it when I tried making the snout (Do bunnies even have snouts? What do they have?) more defined. Oh well. That's how we learn.

Illustration Friday - Puzzled

The bunny was puzzled by acupuncture but trusted her friend the hedgehog and was willing to give it a shot.

Happy Birthday from Winnie the Pooh

Made this for a friend's birthday today. This is a loose interpretation of what Russian Winnie the Pooh and Piglet look like.

Illustration Friday - Vocal

This hippo is very vocal about enjoying his bath.

I usually try to come up with a piece specifically for the IF topic but this week is proving to be too hectic. This is a quick sketch I just did inspired by a children's poem (in Russian) http://elenat.livejournal.com/153955.html. It wasn't intended for IF per se, but seems to fit, I think.

Illustration Friday - Return

Special Delivery - Returns are NOT accepted.

I am dedicating this to 3 very special moms:

I - who gave birth to her second little boy 11 weeks ago and inspired the original sketch for this.
K - whose little boy is due to arrive in a little over a month
and last but certainly not least
A - whose little boy is celebrating his first birthday today! Happy Birthday M!

Illustration Friday - Swamp

The Dragonfly fairy made the swamp her home. Every morning she chose a new leaf from the most beautiful plant in the swamp to serve as her wand. Froggy was her trusted companion and had magical powers of his own - he could sing all the baby animals that lived in the swamp to sleep. The momma animals loved the Dragonfly fairy and Froggy and always made special treats for them: Water Lilly nectar for the fairy and mosquito pops for Froggy.

I have to admit that this week's Illustration Friday prompt gave me pause. The first thing that popped into my mind is the Swamp Creature but I just couldn't visualize it in my mind. I wanted to do Swamped in the Swamp with the Swamp thing holding a little swamp baby and with another baby and household items floating around her. The problem was the swamp thing kept coming out looking like me except with a greenish tint which didn't do my complexion any favors. So I decided to call on the help of the Dragon Fairy to come and rescue me and as a thank you painted her portrait. I hope she likes it and I hope you do too.

Mr Pig enjoying the rain

I feel like I've really been on an umbrella kick lately. It's been raining off and on here so that might explain it. This pig seems to be enjoying himself though...

Illustration Friday - Shades

This penguin escaped the cold, put on his shades, and is enjoying the sun from the shade of his umbrella.

Illustration Friday - Yield

Who will yield first?

Illustration Friday - Intention

This is a sketch I actually did yesterday for a little story my daughter came up with. When I saw the Illustration Friday topic this morning, I was struck with how well the sketch fit and so decided to enter it.

This puppy has full intention of taking flight.

movement and perspective

I feel like most of my sketches use the same static poses and views so I've been trying to practice more movement and perspective variations. I have to admit that I am struggling especially with the fully forward facing and fully backside views. I'd love some tips on how to tackle those.

Moo

This little cow blankie character is inspired by my 16 month old's favorite toy and I have a few adventures in store for her :-) I think it's simple enough to let me explore conveying different poses and expressions while maintaining character distinctiveness.