Amphibious Friends stamp booklet

january, 2023

illustration

project overview

This was a project from my illustration class, where we were tasked with creating 5 individual stamps and a booklet of 10 permanent stamps. The aim was to create something that would have appeal to Canadians everywhere, but be something wholly unique to Canada’s pre-existing stamp collections.

Canada has a strong reputation regarding the splendour and natural beauty of our country and its wildlife. However, there has been no previous stamp collection about amphibians. I figured a collection which was entirely focused on amphibians would provide something new, and represent various amphibious creatures found across the provinces and territories. In highlighting Canada’s biodiversity, this collection also draws attention to amphibians’ importance in science as indicator species, and how important they are to ecologists, and how the conservation of their wetland environments is so important.

process

The first step was creating a moodboard, compiling references of artists I admire, such as Qistina Khalidah and Holly Warburton. At this stage, I was thinking of doing highly rendered and naturalistic paintings of each amphibian.

Moodboard

The next stage was then choosing which animals I wanted to depict. Since there have only been a depiction of a handful of amphibians across Canada’s history of postage stamps, and no dedicated collection, I wanted to make sure I included a diversity of amphibians from across all of Canada. In this collection I decided to depict two frogs, one toad, a newt and a salamander. As well, I also made sure every single composition was unique, and that each animal would be in different poses and environments too.

Coloured sketches