Tooth fairy
Today I would like to share a project I recently completed for Media Therapy. I was commissioned to illustrate the tooth fairy and her tree house home to launch a new product.
Tooth fairy: The advertising campaign will be launched shortly and I’m really looking forward to seeing it everywhere. I had to illustrate a fairy tree house, very similar to the ones I did a few years ago now for Templar Publishing. However they wanted this one in my new softer style that I have been developing. The original illustration is really quite big and was fiddly to stretch on board (especially on such a windy day). I had to do it outside because the board I was stretching the paper on was so huge!
The tooth fairy was far easier to paint (thank goodness.) I took my inspiration for my tooth fairy from history. Apparently in early Europe when a child’s sixth tooth falls out, it is a custom for parents to slip a gift or money from the tooth fairy under the child’s pillow, but to leave the tooth as a reward. Some parents also leave trails of glitter on the floor, representing fairy dust, which I incorporated into my artwork. How could I resist? In northern Europe there was also a tradition of tand-fé or tooth fee, which was paid when a child lost its first tooth. So this tooth fairy myth goes back a long way!
Both were painted using watercolour paint, and ink. i am currently experimenting with using pencil and watercolour for an even softer results, which works very well for pre-school books.
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