koala Illustration In Watercolour – available
(Original Artwork Available)
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The next illustration in my Australian animal series comes quite a complex challenge, capturing a mother Koala and her baby. The brief was quite simple really, but I wanted to approach this one in a way that once again gives my client as many options for its use as possible. The koala is quite a difficult subject to paint in itself, but i felt that going the additional mile was worth it… and so Ive created this design in seperate elements that can be combined in a number of ways. Its functional and fun!
Starting out, I was mindful once again, of keeping the harmony of the greater series, as well as making each illustration unique and beautiful in itself. For the mother koala illustration i used the same palette but a different balance of colours to create gorgeous mauve blue grays, a little different than the illustrations that have come before my koala painting. I was very happy with the combination and balance of colours achieved, along with the wonderful furry textures of the koala.
My Koala painting now joins the wombat illustration the Quokka illustration the platypus illustration the Echidna Illustration and the Magpie Illustration before it paving the way forwards for the styling of this collection clearly now. I wanted a maternal koala, soft and sweet… ‘I like her kind eyes’ my client said, and with that, I knew she was well on track.
Adding to the story came this little sweetie… a baby koala illustration to join the mother. The more I researched the koalas for this brief, the more I laughed at their unique personalities, expressions and characteristics. They are just hilarious and so very adorable, making an absolutely essential addition to this series of Australian animal illustrations.
The addition of the baby is too damn cute. Ive painted him in his entirety because I wanted that scope for my client, but because I just really wanted to paint him! A gorgeous little painting study in itself, this baby will be tucked into his mothers side in one of the final compositions, just as you can see in the illustration above, that will be used in a range of wonderful ways to come.
Here you can see Ive thrown in a small bunch of Australian flowers, a waratah and some pink flowering gum in combination with the mother koala painting, to bring yet another combination and option to my clients usage. I think its super sweet and a great variation to such a typically Australian story. So, 6 illustrations of our goal of 12 are now complete… I wonder what will come next! Thanks for following 🙏🏻
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*(Apologies for the logo on these images. Unfortunately my work is stolen so often it has become essential to mark and minimise the images here as much as i can)