I am so proud to be Canadian. We are as diverse as each province and territory out there. I’ve been illustrating a fictional house hippo, based in every province. I made a point to feature real flora and fauna found across Canada, some being endangered, to bring awareness to them. Also featured some of the provincial tartan colours where blank space permitted.

Here’s the early rough notes for my provincial house hippo progress. Colour choices for the provinces/enlarging the smaller provinces to show details. The arrows helped determine which position the hippo head needed to be in as I illustrated them. (So as to avoid most of them looking in one direction & keep it visually interesting.)

The original illustration that started it all;

I illustrated a House hippo snacking on a Poutine, featuring lacrosse in the maple leaf behind him. Also featured the Trillium flower as a nod to my home province of Ontario!

This is the house hippo explanation for those who don’t know. Also featured as the backing card for my Canadian vinyl sticker collection.