Join Mugo's Quest, my new illustrated stories full of characters and secrets. The first book in the series, The Ritual of Light, is out! · 
Animal Dreams, Wild Cats
Puzzle 750 pieces artwork for Buffalo Games' Animal Dreams series, a detailed botanical scene.
Animal Dreams Wild Cats Tiger Puzzle
Felines are almost a universal symbol of strength and elegance, power and grace, which is why they were very in line with the creative brief I received. While I was working on this piece I remembered silk scarves I saw in The Museum of Decorative Arts on my last trip to Paris, and this kind of inspired the artwork in the final stages where I introduced the border.
PROCESS: All the sketches were pretty intuitive, created in a way that responds to the brief and what we were looking for, but also very roughly defying what would be the general atmosphere and focus of the illustration. I wanted to represent the wild cats in a playful way to give them a more mischievous character.
COMPOSITION: Before choosing on the final idea, I presented quite a few concepts, each one responding to the creative brief in a different way. The idea we went with of the two felines, was one of few that had a pretty symmetrical and central composition, and it was also the only one featuring wild cats. I love all the various examples of symbiosis in nature and between the animals, that's why the contrast between a big, strong and sometimes dangerous animal and a tiny, delicate bird is something that I also wanted to include in the artwork. I feel like the wild cats are anchor elements of the illustration while the tiny birds in the corners add movement and lightness and almost serve as an ornament.
COLOR PALETTE: I played with many different color combinations before deciding on the final one. I wanted to achieve a color palette that's feminine but not cliche, delicate but not sweet, that has this playful tone but overall a quite elegant look. And so for the main background color I went with a toned down emerald shade which is mysterious and I feel like has a lot of depth. My initial idea was to make the felines very bright and colorful, but once again I discovered that pretty uniform fiery shade makes the cats look alive and electric, especially when combined with the cooling tone of the background. I added accents in powder pink as it soothes and calms down the vibrant center of the artwork.
