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So instead of making a Christmas drawing for you all, I made this. My first ever real illustration! This was so much fun to make <3

A dream of mine is to write and illustrate a children's book, but only now have I developed the skills I think I need to make an illustration like this (though I still have lots of room for improvement). My attention to detail is a quality of mine that I am proud of, and I hope it shows in this illustration (I even made the patterns for the wallpaper and tiles myself).

I worked on this over 2 days.

These are three of my own original characters (from left) Zura, Hana and Ammy c:

A little about my characters:

Zura:

"Zura" is derived from "Itazura" (いたずら) which means "mischief". Zura is very playful and enjoys playing harmless tricks on others (especially jumping out and scaring passers-by). She is often loud and out-spoken, but knows to be quiet when Hana is around.
She is very protective of Hana and is quick to defend her. She is very bold and brave, but sometimes she lets her courage get the better of her and finds herself in some sticky situations.
She loves helping Hana out in the garden as best she can, but both her and Hana know that she isn't very good at it. She's quite clumsy and often finds herself tangled in Hana's berry bushes or cucumber vines.
She loves picking and eating berries, though, and often helps Ammy collect them to make her next cake or cupcake batch. Ammy's cakes are her favourite food in the whole world, she can never get enough of them!

Hana:

Hana (花) means "flower". She is best friends with Zura, but their personalities are completely different.
Hana is very quiet and shy. She loves nothing more than a quiet afternoon in her garden; watering the flowers, tending to her vegetables and gathering berries. She dislikes having weeds in her garden; not because they hurt her flowers, but because she feels bad when she needs to pull them out (she lets Zura have this job when she wants to help out).
Hana is also incredibly gentle. She can care for the most delicate of flowers, and nurse the smallest of insects. Her favourite insects are the lady beetles that live in her strawberry patch.

Ammy:

"Ammy" is derived from "Amai" (甘い) which means sweet. She is likened to a cross between an alpaca and a bunny.
She is very kind and generous to everyone that she meets, and always manages to find the good in people.
She loves to bake cakes and sweets and will often adorn her creations in edible flowers and berries from Hana's garden. Her favourite flowers are frangipanis and hibiscus, and she will always be found with one of these flowers propped behind one of her ears.
Her thick pink coat is always growing; she lets it grow out in the winter, then sheds it all in the summer (her coat is light pink underneath as well). It is often mistaken for fairy floss, especially when it becomes covered in sugar and flour after she has baked something.

Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you all have a wonderful day, and thanks for being so awesome <3

All artworks are © Melissa Caruso 2013. Please do not use, edit or redistribute in any way without my permission. This includes blogs and other image sharing websites. Thank you ♥
Zura, Hana and Ammy © Melissa Caruso 2013

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Description

Facebook | Tumblr | Squishy Star Shop

So instead of making a Christmas drawing for you all, I made this. My first ever real illustration! This was so much fun to make <3

A dream of mine is to write and illustrate a children's book, but only now have I developed the skills I think I need to make an illustration like this (though I still have lots of room for improvement). My attention to detail is a quality of mine that I am proud of, and I hope it shows in this illustration (I even made the patterns for the wallpaper and tiles myself).

I worked on this over 2 days.

These are three of my own original characters (from left) Zura, Hana and Ammy c:

A little about my characters:

Zura:

"Zura" is derived from "Itazura" (いたずら) which means "mischief". Zura is very playful and enjoys playing harmless tricks on others (especially jumping out and scaring passers-by). She is often loud and out-spoken, but knows to be quiet when Hana is around.
She is very protective of Hana and is quick to defend her. She is very bold and brave, but sometimes she lets her courage get the better of her and finds herself in some sticky situations.
She loves helping Hana out in the garden as best she can, but both her and Hana know that she isn't very good at it. She's quite clumsy and often finds herself tangled in Hana's berry bushes or cucumber vines.
She loves picking and eating berries, though, and often helps Ammy collect them to make her next cake or cupcake batch. Ammy's cakes are her favourite food in the whole world, she can never get enough of them!

Hana:

Hana (花) means "flower". She is best friends with Zura, but their personalities are completely different.
Hana is very quiet and shy. She loves nothing more than a quiet afternoon in her garden; watering the flowers, tending to her vegetables and gathering berries. She dislikes having weeds in her garden; not because they hurt her flowers, but because she feels bad when she needs to pull them out (she lets Zura have this job when she wants to help out).
Hana is also incredibly gentle. She can care for the most delicate of flowers, and nurse the smallest of insects. Her favourite insects are the lady beetles that live in her strawberry patch.

Ammy:

"Ammy" is derived from "Amai" (甘い) which means sweet. She is likened to a cross between an alpaca and a bunny.
She is very kind and generous to everyone that she meets, and always manages to find the good in people.
She loves to bake cakes and sweets and will often adorn her creations in edible flowers and berries from Hana's garden. Her favourite flowers are frangipanis and hibiscus, and she will always be found with one of these flowers propped behind one of her ears.
Her thick pink coat is always growing; she lets it grow out in the winter, then sheds it all in the summer (her coat is light pink underneath as well). It is often mistaken for fairy floss, especially when it becomes covered in sugar and flour after she has baked something.

Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you all have a wonderful day, and thanks for being so awesome <3

All artworks are © Melissa Caruso 2013. Please do not use, edit or redistribute in any way without my permission. This includes blogs and other image sharing websites. Thank you ♥
Zura, Hana and Ammy © Melissa Caruso 2013

FAQ | Commission Info