Creating “Yawn”

Anatomy of an Illustration

Baxter showed up on our doorstep many years ago – very small and very sick. We nursed him back to health and he was quite the character. He was very cuddly and trusting. When he was small and on his way to better health, he used to like to curl up in a ceramic bowl we kept on our counter as a fruit bowl. As he grew bigger, he continued to snooze in the bowl. We could even carry him around in the bowl. It was his happy place. Baxter crossed the rainbow bridge way too soon but he is in our hearts forever. He was the second pet I illustrated (his dog friend Perri was my first). And now I get to send him into the world on pillows, cards, wall art and quilting squares. He is helping me to spread joy.

When I illustrate pets, I usually start with a reference photograph (or several) because I want to recognize the pet at the end. I found an adorable picture of Baxter sitting on our kitchen table and yawning. He had probably just unwound himself from his bowl.

From this reference photo, I created a line drawing. Typically, I spend a lot of time on the eyes but in this pose, Baxter’s eyes are squinted closed. So, I looked for other details that capture his charm – his pink tongue, little white teeth, whiskers and shaggy fur.

The next step is to go through my archive of art work to look for patterns to fill the shapes of the line drawing. In particular, I focused on patterns for his fur. I need shades of gold – creamy to dark – and patterns that evoked his long, shaggy fur. I settled on ‘Organized Chaos’ (in particular, the creamy yellow parts), ‘Chamisa’ and an unnamed gold and white print.

Then, I get to work, playing with the patterns. I rotate them, scale up and down and zero in on the parts that I like. I try to get the patterns to move the way his fur would move and I use the lighter and darker bits to shade the illustration. Once I had the kitty done, I added some butterflies and some watercolor grasses for him to sit on. And, viola! Pure kitty joy.