The Beaver as Savior / Animals & Nature
A feature cover article discussing the many positives that beavers bring to various environments. From cleaning water to increasing fish populations, our national mascot has much to offer. The final 6 illustrations were part of a front-page feature that was really fun to do, with many thanks to David Woodside at the Globe & Mail for allowing me to go a bit bananas on the drawings & accidentally inspiring the crazy colours. These have turned out to be some of my favourite pieces from this year… sadly I missed out on grabbing the final printed copy. They make some nice prints too!
This tiny doodle was the impetus to explore the triangular pattern & line work. Idle hands while awaiting the full story made for a pleasant surprise.
After some quick back & forth these are the roughs & colours we came up with, which were initially just blocks to indicate the image spacing Thankfully, Mr.Woodside's always great for allowing illustrators to run on their own steam. This is a pretty classic example of how my roughs translate to finals… & why they really are 'roughs'.