I was recently commissioned to illustrate two animals – a Peregrine Falcon and a Duck-Billed Platypus.
I decided to illustrate two versions of the Peregrine Falcon, one standing on a beach and another in flight.
The Duck-Billed Platypus is a strange creature, in a cute way.
Each illustration is on a 6 inch by 8 inch piece of hot press watercolor paper using watercolor and colored pencils. I framed each one with an 8 inch by 10 inch mat frame I cut out from cold press watercolor paper.
Contact me if you’re interested in commissioning an animal illustration of your own!
I started a new collection in my online shop called Wild Things, which is filling up with more fun products with my illustrations printed on them, such as ornaments and postcards, new tote bags, stickers and coasters!
I adore doing these nature-inspired wreath illustrations with some of my favorite sayings in my sketchbook with watercolor and colored pencils, and then turning them into fun products!
A few screenshots from my online shop of new products:
I’m always drawing, practicing and filling up sketchbook pages with nature-inspired illustrations so check back for more fun projects!
I love stickers of all kinds so I’m having lots of fun creating stickers with a variety of my illustrations, and creating illustrations that I can turn into stickers. I’m also working on getting my artwork printed on coasters and ornaments.
Stickers by Terri Wilhelm
I have sketchbooks full of illustrations that would work perfectly for stickers and sticker sheets, coasters, ornaments and more, so stay tuned!
Let me know if you’re interested in any of the stickers featured in this post!
Remember this illustration I did in my sketchbook of a daydreaming fox? I used watercolor for the background and base layer and colored pencils for the details.
With a little Photoshop magic, I turned it into a badge for advertising my illustration business on Illustrators For Hire.
I recently had the illustration printed on a coffee mug and a zipper pouch! How beautiful are these!
I’m so excited to announce that I have a new collection of products to share with the world with my Great Lakes Wildlife illustrations printed on them!
I love nature centers and gift shops but I can never seem to find the products I’m looking for. So I created my own – Terri’s Nature Center Gift Shop – which carries a mug, tumbler, water bottle, chili or soup bowl, tea towel, string backpack, tote bag, notebook, gift wrap sheets, zipper pouches and so much more!
It’s a print-on-demand shop which means the item gets printed as soon as you order it and then it’s shipped directly to you. It also means I don’t have to buy a quantity upfront to store in my house and then do the shipping on my own.
I am also working on ordering a supply of items so I can do art fairs next year.
I created the original illustrations on a large sheet of paper with watercolor and colored pencils, inspired by wildlife commonly found in the region where I live, so it’s called the Great Lakes Wildlife collection.
I’ve been ordering prototypes and have been very happy with everything.
I also have a fun sticker shop where you can order some of my nature illustrations as stickers and temporary tattoos. More coming soon!
Stay wild sticker by Terri Wilhelmfox sticker by Terri Wilhelm
Go check out all these new and wonderful goodies! And help me celebrate a dream come true!
If you are a retail store or a nature center interested in carrying these products, please contact me!
I’m on a roll lately, filling up sketchbooks pages with more wild things using watercolor and colored pencils. It’s a wonderful time of year to find inspiration in the woods and my own backyard – Autumn provides so many nature treasures and colors.
I go in streaks, some weeks with a lot of illustrating, other weeks with digital work. I’m turning many of these sketchbook illustrations into stickers and sticker sheets. Stay tuned for announcements on where you can purchase my stickers!
I read this advice recently: “Create what sets your heart on fire and let it illuminate your path.” That’s what I’ve been trying to focus on with my sketchbook art lately.
When I was in Minneapolis last month for the ICON12 Illustration Conference, I stayed at my cousin Linda’s house in the country and we saw a doe and three fawns come out of a clearing and cross the road. They were such a lovely sight I wanted to remember in a sketchbook spread, combined with all the wildflowers in bloom in late summer using with watercolors and colored pencils.
I painted a light wash background on this spread and decided it was perfect to draw backyard wild things with my colored pencils.
I love stickers so this sketchbook spread of small vignettes was inspired by nature things I might want to make a sticker from.
I love water more than anything! I love to drink it, swim in it, shower in it, and watch it. I also discovered I have a lot of boat pictures in my photo roll so I did these little vignettes using a watercolor wash background and neocolor II pastels, which I haven’t used much. It was great fun to experiment with a variety of mixed media.
Speaking of watching the water, it’s fun to watch water birds like gulls ride the wind over the waves, so I played with blues and textures in this sketchbook spread.
I’m always working on several art projects at the same time, so stay tuned for more nature and wild things illustrations. And thank you for stopping by!
There’s a protest going around on social media apps who recently announced they are going to use artists’ content to train their AI.
Beth Spencer of @bethspencerart recently initiated a cool prompt to artists to draw in our style (#dtiys) our own badge to represent what “Made with human intelligence” means to each of us.
I filled up a page of thumbnail sketches in my sketchbook; a few I love, and some I don’t love.
I tried to think of things I love to draw and things that represented humanity and artists sketching and learning and practicing.
My two favorites are the sketchbook of butterfly drawings and the mountain landscape.
If you’ve read my blog for awhile you’ll notice that I prefer to do my illustrations with traditional mediums because I sit in front of a computer screen all day for my day job, so drawing with a pencil or paintbrush on an actual piece of paper feels good for my soul!
