quokka Illustration In Watercolour
(Original Artwork Available)
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With the first wombat illustration in this series complete, our imaginations slipped happily away into the possibilities of the next critter to bring to life in this collection, and its such a fun stage full of wonderings, laughs, ridiculous conversations and possibilities. Honestly there are so many unique and wonderful Australian animals we could choose that making a final selection seemed overwhelming, but its so exciting too! Eventually our shortlist was narrowed down to a single focus, settling on the Quokka for our second illustration in this series.
With the styling, or the characteristics for this series largely set with the wombat, our direction forwards was a whole lot clearer this time around. Once wed finally decided on the quokka painting as our next stop, we refined our thoughts into our final quokka character, roughing him in with graphite before the rendering began. ‘He needs a fat belly, a totally adorable face (as they have) with a huuuuge grin, his little paws in an excited pose, generally full of love and anticipation in his personality’. We fiddled about with the detailing, making the grin larger, the teeth showing more, his belly plump and with the nod of approval, off I went into the rendering stage once more.
With the graphite drawing refined, I started with the eyes to really capture his cheeky, happy and lively personality. They eyes really set the character in any animal painting like this, and as an illustrator, it really seems to help you ‘get to know’ your subject in a far more personal way. And with just the eyes rendered, theres already a sense of acquaintance there which is such fun!
Now I begin to render that adorable nose, textural and black with delicate furry edges, wonderful bright highlights and such a huge part of his personality once more. I took my time of course, taking great care to get him just right, to capture the right mood, and to enjoy myself in the process. Here were definitely getting to know our little quokka well, and a real connection or familiarity is established.
With the features of his face in, his character and expression captured nicely its time to exhale a little and change gears to the rest of him. Now we have a different story, rendering the fur in golden browns and ochres with licks of the same mauve from the wombat, as they are a pair now and must work together in a series like this.
I start with a wash, building the textures, colours and tones up slowly to develop a richness and complexity in the painting. These early stages are all about roughing your way into your subject, getting a feel for your subject, medium, and direction.
Now hes really coming to life, his sweet, happy face staring back at you with rich, bright and friendly eyes. His coat is wonderfully furry with hints of gold flushing through the balance of colour. Texture creates interest and form, creating rolls of belly that tumble over his adorable little body.
His little paws have a nice pose that works in this painting as a stand alone, but it gives my client the option to change the composition down the track if they wish. In this instance he will have accessories of a cup cake covered in hundreds and thousands, bringing such a pop of fun to the illustration. You can see this version below. I feel like his paws also bring an element of anticipation to his pose which I love.
Now we have the completed quokka painting, ready for the cupcake accessories and his adventure in the hands of the design team next. Again, we are super happy with this beautiful character who joins the wombat in this fabulous series of Australian animal illustrations. Of course as his path unfolds in the coming months Ill share more on this with you too.
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