Illustration Friday: REFLECT

Crispin had never seen a mirror like this one before. Look at those paws! Who was that squirrel? Suddenly, tryouts for the basketball team seemed much less scary.

I missed the deadline for Illustraiton Friday this week, but finished the sketch today and decided to post it. The word for the week was REFLECT, and while working on it, I was thinking about how we can look into mirrors and see outsized flaws that oftentimes others never notice.

But mirrors can also provide a slightly different take on things, let you see a self with different strengths. Weird huge Hulk paws! Dainty mouse feet! Slim swan-like neck! Sometimes that mirror is a person, a friend, who reminds you of what your strengths really are, or shows you how they see you.

The inspiration to sketch an animal came from a book on the NYPL list of 2013 best children's books: Herman and Rosie, about an animal duo that finds each other in the jazz scene in NYC. Sometimes, animal characters can be more like us than we are!