day 1 : the product

I always look forward to Joanne Hawker’s Meet the Maker challenges and I’ve been excited about joining in again this week, especially as the focus is more around our work this time in Meet the Maker week 🎉

Today is the first day and all about introducing a product so I’m going to tell you about one of my most FAVOURITE things to work on as part of Hello Sunshine; Sunshine Portraits. Whether it’s the ‘traditional’ digital Sunshines you see pop up more often or the super fast, live watercolour portraits at events or the newest option I listed in my shop this year - the head and shoulders watercolour portraits, which are not super fast but are an absolute joy to paint!

So.. What is a ‘Sunshine’? ‘A Sunshine’ is the name I give to any of my portraits, which are cartoon versions of you and your loved ones… but without a proper face! 🙃 Without seeing them it sounds weird BUT I can draw you, your pet, your family, (anyone really!) and by only drawing eyes on their face, somehow I can make them look like who it’s meant to be. Throw in their favourite outfit, item, beverage, hobby or fur baby and you have a mighty personal, one of a kind gift 🎨 Not everyone gets it and that’s OK but those who do seem to love it and I ADORE drawing them!

I used to be terrified of caricature artists (you know the ones on holiday who will make your nose extra big or your ears stick out even more), so a combination of that fear and lack of confidence in drawing facial features actually helped me develop my style over 10 years ago and it hasn’t really changed since 💀 The fact I’m still drawing them now as part of my dream job makes my heart leap - seriously!

Sunshines can be for anyone who would like to immortalise themselves in doodle form. I’ve drawn everyone from teeny-tiny toddlers to great grandparents, from pets and pianos to racing cars and food vans 🚌 I’ve even made some custom colouring pages for local businesses and had my portraits end up on wedding invites, christmas card and on skin! They don’t really serve a purpose, other than to accessorise your walls or profile picture and make the recipient smile (or happy cry) and feel special when they receive such a personal gift.

There you have it, some epic waffle to tell you a bit about what I’m going to continuing waffling at you about this week. I’ve shared a few of my faves throughout this post, including some cheeky TV and celeb Sunshines so you can hopefully see how they ‘work’.

OK, time to pipe down, I’ve said way too much for this time on a Monday morning 🙊

HAPPY MONDAY FOLKS!