charity

dog portraits

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While I was in Hong Kong last month, I helped out my friend Alex, who runs Dogalicious, a healthy dog food company, at his stand at the pink dot festival. I offered pet portraits of people's dogs, in exchange for a donation to lap, the animal charity.I'd never tried this before, but most of the owners seemed to be quite happy with the results! Dogs don't stay still, so I had to capture their personalities whilst they wriggled...I did the portraits in watercolour and brushpen, each one in under 10 minutes!There is even a video of the event that you can watch here. Woof!

Hong Kong visit

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I'm in HK at the moment, for various projects, and just took part in the Symposium for Disaster Risk Reduction at the Hong Kong PolyU.Author Martha Keswick and I gave a presentation as part of the campaign for Disaster Risk preparedness, to launch our new childrens picture book series: 'COPE - How to be Ready for Natural Disasters'.It's a series of books featuring a team of kids who travel the world teaching other kids how to handle various natural disasters. The first book is about Earthquakes. We hope to eventually have books that include what to do in hurricanes, wildfires, floods, tsunamis, blizzards and volcanoes.Because of increasing climate change, natural disasters are becoming more prevalent, and it's so important that children know how to deal with them. We are actively looking for partners to help us publish and fund the series. If you know any NGOs who might be interested, please contact us! We have a temporary website here for more info:

www.COPE-natural-disasters.com

If these books can saves lives, I will feel like I've done something worthwhile. Please help if you can!

animals asia Christmas cards

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I've designed some Christmas cards for my favourite animal charity again this year, Animals Asia. I worked on lots of different ideas, and three were chosen for the cards. I tried to make them cute, but not too cute...If you're considering buying some charity cards, please help us help the moonbears! You can buy the cards here. Thank you!!

Animals Asia products

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I was recently asked to design some products for the charity Animals Asia. These products are sold here and the profits go towards their work saving animals.tea-towelI painted illustrations of wonderful moonbears, as I really love them and can't stand the way they are farmed and treated so cruelly. I tried to show them being curious and adorable, and most of all, hopeful.tote-bag-stillI started the project by researching and sketching moonbears, and playing with ideas on how to bring some colour and fun into the images.bear-sketches-2 I then tried out different styles and media, and picked watercolour to give the illustrations a loose, free feeling.bear-sketches-1There's a teatowel, a tote bag and a tshirt, with different illustrations, and all available from the Animals Asia online shop.tshirtBuy them for all your friends! Please help save the bears!

moon bear merchandise

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My charity project this year was for Animals Asia, which is devoted to the welfare of wild and urban animals in Asia, and also works towards the conservation of endangered species. Because I love bears, I specifically worked with them on their Moon Bear Rescue campaign, where they save and support bears rescued from bile farms in China. I've designed four products for the charity, and all the proceeds go towards helping the wonderful moon bears. The collection has just been launched in time for Christmas orders. My personal favourite is the ladies large scarf, featuring four lovely bears in pretty patterns,and this is my most favourite bear of them all...Moon bears have that name because of the distinctive crescent of lighter fur on their fronts. I've played with this 'moon' symbolism in my designs, placing the bears in the night sky, like constellations, for both the scarf and the foldable bag. I did a simple solitary bear on a moon for the ladies t-shirt, and a sequential drawing of a bear being let out of a cage to freedom, for the folding umbrella.You can order everything from the Animals Asia website shop, and they'll ship worldwide. Help us save the moon bears !

charity christmas cards

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I've designed a range of christmas cards this year for ndi moyo, a charity that provides palliative care for HIV/AIDS sufferers in Malawi. Here are some of my favourite designs. I based them all around traditional Christmas themes of baubles, gifts and trees, using African textiles and patterns to reflect the locale of the charity itself.I've done five designs, which you get in a mixed pack of twelve cards (six cards by another illustrator) with envelopes. Unfortunately you can't buy just my designs, but it all goes to charity, and the other cards are pretty interesting too! If you're thinking of getting your christmas cards soon, I hope you'll consider buying these...