They're not llamas.
They're a much cuter cousin.
They're called Vicuna and they live in the Andean Mountains. I learned all
about them as part of my assignment
creating a concept for a
children's book illustration.
What do you look for in children's books?
Cheeky little characters?
Finely detailed art?
Graphic shapes and colors?
I explored a variety of moods and approaches
with this assignment.
I painted Vicuna with watercolors...
and played around with different marks and textures, even getting a bit strange with some choices.
Then I just painted watercolor patterns, manipulating and layering them digitally to merge with my Vicuna shapes...
which achieved a dreamy and ephemeral look.
Next, I used color pencils...
which created a nice, soft look. The watercolor flora and clouds bring in a bit of dreaminess again.
But in the end I fell in love with the gouache version. Here she is embellished with watercolor Peruvian lilies and rug.
I enjoyed making her sweet, but then wanted to have my characters do something a bit playful, maybe even a bit ornery.
So I painted them giving raspberries.
Vicuna have been hunted for their
exquisitely soft fur, which pushed them to
endangered status.
The people of the Andes
conduct a round-up every 3 years
to shear the Vicuna. It takes that long to
grow the fur. Vicuna have slowly made a comeback, but poaching still happens.
May the Vicuna with their
big dark eyes and lashes be free
to roam and play
in the Andes
forevermore!