A few Behind-The-Scenes facts about Flora.
Why the name ‘FLORA’: it has ancient and italic origins, coming from the Latin ‘flower’. It‘s associated with nature, garden, blossom. In Roman mythology she is the goddess of flowers and springtime, with eternal youth, and the power of renewing things, bringing life.
Why the name ‘FLORA MAKES ME SMILE’: she was born with the mission of brightening my days, helping me find joy in the ordinary things. (She made it!)
I wanted somehow to incorporate elements of Magic into both my drawing style and the character herself.
So, since Curiosity is no doubt one of Flora’s superpowers, I designed for her a giant pair of eyeglasses to explore the world, adding a piece of mystery: they have no arms, they just sit there, as if by magic…
This is the very first choice I made the moment I started to develop my character: NO skin tone for Flora!
I put a few touches of color on her clothes/accessories (in the original first drawings, also a bit of red to emphasize the volume of her cheeks), leaving everything else blank.
The concept of universality was the thing I cared the most, I would let people decide what her full colors might be.
And now, I just adore seeing how my artist friends create their own look for her!!!
You can download for free 3 Flora Creativity Sheets here, and have fun trying different color combos!
My desire to stay true to the idea of universality never made me think about Flora’s age in terms of numbers of years. Instead, I could answer these questions:
How old does she FEEL?
What’s her MINDSET?
She embodies the childlike aspect that lives inside all of us, in a mix of reality and imagination, always excited, open to the new, free to explore, and able to dream.
I don’t know how old she is, to me Flora is timeless.
A little while ago, I asked to our friends on social media what words they would use to describe Flora...
I finally collected them all, and made this special page.
Thanks to each of them for their love, and precious contribution.
To find out what she says about herself, check out the blog post: 20 THINGS ABOUT ME!
You two might have something in common!!!
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