I took some time to do the Illustration Friday topic of the week: toy… even if it is a crazy-busy week, I really wanted to do an illustration with this topic. So many images from my childhood in mind. As a kid, the toy I liked most was my small plastic horses. They were my favorite thing. I would take them all outside and suddenly the bushes were giant trees, a small puddle of water became a giant lake, and the horses of course were suddenly alive. Now why did I put a zebra there instead of a horse? Well I think it’s more of a graphic thing. Love the patterns on zebra’s! But any toy-size animal is cool when we are kids. Only take a little bit of imagination to make them “be alive”.
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Cette semaine est vraiment mais vraiment occupée! Je voulais quand même prendre (un peu) de temps pour illustrer le sujet de la semaine sur IF : toy = jouet. Je sais pas pour vous, mais dans mon cas le jouet que j’aimais le plus quand j’étais petite c’était mes petits chevaux en plastique. Des heures passés dans ma cours… tout à coup les buissons devenaient des arbres énormes, une flaque d’eau quand à elle avait la dimension d’un lac… bref mes chevaux en plastique prenaient vie. Pourquoi le zèbre alors? Bien graphiquement c’est plus jolie, je trouve… avec ses rayures noires (à moins qu’elles soit blanches? On le sait pas vraiment). Un petit peu d’imagination et voilà que le jouet prend vie.
I will go visit your website now!! I miss checking other websites of illustrators, too!! hehe
17 Comments
I absolutely love this! We were all about the horses too. Real ones, plastic ones, and sometimes we just ran around and whinnied like we were the horses. (but we were also the rider?)
This is quite charming.
Another good one-this makes me smile.
oh but im glad you put a zebra instead of a horse, it’s a beauty!
(i love the girl’s shoes… can i borrow them??)
hope you’ve been well, xoxo, mita.
Mita, hahaha always laughing when I see the names you create for your comments(your lucky my spam detector do not freak out with a name like “hot stuff xD” hehehe but you are right, zebra’s are such beauty. Yes, the shoes can be borrowed but I must advise you, they are SMALL!!!
Thanks Steve, always appreciate your comments. Big fan of yours.
Diane, haha… yeah…. we were the horses and the riders… maybe we were Centaur!!
Endearing. Dreamlike [mine anyway!]
Thank you Karen, I visited your website… I am fascinated by your work!! Encausting paintings looks so good!! One day I will try that medium… the textures this medium can create are so awesome and unique.
Wonderful! Reminds me of one of Enki Bilal’s cartoons.
Thank you for commenting on my blog.
I just love this. Such a calm beautiful atmosphere you have created. Thanks so much for visiting my blog.
I love grey and green together and you do it quite well.
Perhaps I have a dark mind, but this illo could almost be seen as macabre; as if the little girl was keeping the tiny zebra in the street for some sinister purpose. The reason I think this is because there is a whole field of grass behind the little girl, but she is keeping the zebra in the street, feeding him little by little. I think this could be a dark metaphor for employment with a bad company. They keep their employees in harms way, giving them very little, and blocking the way to the wealth of the industry.
On the flip side, this illo can be seen as charming. I love the tiny mound of grass. I love the patient posture of the little girl.
Nice work, as always.
I am really a fan of your style, when I opened your blog and saw this picture I cried out loud: Oooooh! She’s so cute with a little grass in her hand to feed her favourite toy, GREAT!
this is stunning!
Lovely lovely intriguing picture. The whole world around her is empty (just smooth green grass and gray pavement), yet there she is with the whole world of her imagination! Beautiful!
Hahaha! Enchanting! I saw a commercial with a teeny tiny giraffe recently. It was called a lap giraffe. I would love to have a lap zebra. That would be soooooo cool. The little girl has a sweet face. Fantastic piece!
Keiko, Thank you for making me discover Enki Bilal, he is a master… and true, I have found the one about the zebra I think you refers to. Rubin, Always fun to read your comments, this one is very funny, that thing did not cross my mind, but maybe it was inconscious and I have a very twisted mind. Could be!! Nelleke, you are sweet!! Thanks so much! Thanks for the comment Pop Pop portrait
… TMartin: Yes, whole world around her is empty… but your right, imagination can fill it all! Bella: Thank you! I once saw a commercial with a small animal but was not a girafe, was some hyppopotimus!! I remember how cute they were, hiding (if my memory is good) in a shoe box… and they had made it as if it was a documentary, and as if they really existed and got out only at night. Lovely idea… even if I do not remember the brand (now that’s not good, is it?). But it was sooo adorable… 
Lap-girafe, lap-zebra or lap-hyppo I think I would take them all.. just the lap-hyena I am not sure I would adopt!