This project is a homage to Mary Blair's beloved It's a Small World artworks. I'm deeply influenced by her bold use of colour and her whimsical drawing style. I wanted to try my hand on creating a piece of art that could depict many different cultures.

I wanted to create a series of illustrations depicting various countries around the world, each with their respective animal and a native little child. I usually work with a technique known as paper-cutting so this project was perfect for me to try to depict these different nations using my textured papers and paints!

I used paper and gouache to create the art and some corrections/effects were added using Photoshop. I usually start my paper pieces with a sketch more or less elaborate of what I imagine will be the final artwork (which often changes a lot during the process!) and I transfer that sketch to my paper pieces using a light box. From there on, I rely on my imagination to try to bring these characters to life!

I loved how people started giving me suggestions of countries to be included on this series. As a Brazilian artist, I'm very drawn to colourful imagery, nature themes, animals, textures, and this project gave me the opportunity to expand that to other cultures. My "It's a Tiny Little World - Africa" piece was chosen to be part of an online auction coming in November, 2018, by Come Unity, which is a non-profit organization that work to develop long term strategies to alleviate chronic poverty and foster sustainable change on many East African communities. This made me so happy and proud and also made me more aware of the many things we can do to help others, things that may mean so little to us but so much to so many people in need.

You can find more information about Come Unity and their work in African countries at their website: http://www.comeunitynow.org/
Thank you!