{Character Series} Iro no Zuku

Every gal usually has a few girlfriends whom they would consider lifelong buddies.  Anne is a lifelong buddy – I met Anne while schlepping through my Masters program at Harvard.  She thought I was a bubble-head at first impression to later becoming one of my most dear of friends.

The idea of creating owl characters have been on my mind for some time due to Anne’s love for the nocturnal nature of owls.  I admired Anne’s perseverance and integrity in her life and career despite being visually impaired.  It was Anne who taught me to appreciate  dogs as service animals and to be able to stomach super spicy food.  Often, for academic purposes, I would find Anne owling late into the night.

Over the weekend, I was further inspired by my cousin AE to create owl characters.  AE, whom I watched grow into a fine, young lady from a mere babe.  *tear ^___^ Sentimentality aside, AE gave me the idea to create a pair of owlettes with certain characteristics of AE and her beau AC.

And voila~ the owlettes I created are in the Iro no Zuku family.  Loosely translated from Japanese as Owls of Color.  So far, there are two of them – Komezuku (rice owl) and Hanazuku (flower owl).  As a an aside, zuku is the scientific Japanese word for owls with ears.  The more commonly known word for owl in Japanese is furoku, however this term refers mainly to owls without ears.

Komezuku loves eating rice and occasionally needs glasses to count his rice grains for safekeeping. Hanazuku loves collecting fresh flowers and making cute accessories for her feathers and Komezuku's tummy.

Komezuku wears his rice bowl upside down when he sometimes runs out of rice. Hanazuku is about to wake up and start collecting flowers~

The vectors of these characters will be up soon on our Etsy shop.  The print is also up on our deviantART site.  In the meantime, I may create some owling friends as well.  Enjoy!

be sweet.  be blessed.