Cuteness overload alert! We invite you to step into the magical world of ‘Light Draconis,’ an illustration series by Lucracia Ray. The artist is known for her delightful drawings of cute characters like frogs, mushrooms, and other woodland creatures.
The illustrator herself shared what inspired her to start creating this whimsical series: “I’ve always been enamored with fairy tales and I find that woodland creatures tend to quite often embody the magic of those stories so perfectly. I enjoy bringing them to life and giving them whimsical personalities, particularly mushrooms and frogs, as they are both so unique in their biology. It is also just really fun to paint fat and round characters and these two lend themselves to that quite well!”
Scroll down and enjoy this delightful collection of charming woodland creatures, with frogs taking the spotlight.
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Image credits: lightdraconis
Lucracia kindly answered a few of our questions, which we put together to learn more about her work. When asked about the creative process behind her illustrations, from the initial idea to the finished piece, the artist responded: “I draw most of my inspiration from everyday life. Sometimes ideas strike at random times and I’ll quickly jot them down to get to later, sometimes I have a very clear feeling I want to communicate, and sometimes I have no ideas and just start doodling, trusting that eventually inspiration will strike. The latter process is actually the one that yields my best work! Once something emerges from the many tangled sketches, I like to do a few color studies to see if the image works, and then I paint!”
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Image credits: lightdraconis
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Ray shared with us that when it comes to the emotions she aims to convey in her cute drawings, warmth, comfort, and coziness take center stage. She continued: “I am generally an anxious person in real life, and so I like to put the energy or feelings I wish I had into my paintings. I find that this helps to brighten my mood, and others have indicated similar feelings when viewing my work.”
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Image credits: lightdraconis
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We noticed that Lucracia recently decided to release a plushie inspired by her drawings. We were curious about the fans' response and if any new character-toys are in the works for the future. Lucracia told us: “So far everyone has seemed to really enjoy the plushies! It is quite fun to design them and bring something that started as an idea in my head into the physical world. They always put a smile on my face when I glance at them in my office, and people seem to feel the same about them too. I definitely want to make more and eventually create an entire army of fat, plush frogs.”
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Image credits: lightdraconis
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Lastly, we wondered if any of the characters, whether frogs or other creatures, hold a special place for the artist and have become her favorite. Lucracia shared with us: “It’s hard to pick a favorite as they all feel sort of like my children, but I’d say I’m very partial to Puds, aka the Dumb Juice frog. He wears a tall, red gnome hat and drinks from a small red container. I relate the most to him as there are many moments in my life where I do feel as if I’ve drunk some Dumb Juice. He was also my first character that other people seemed to latch on to rather strongly - he has quite the cult following. In a way, I am able to do the work I love full-time because of him!”
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