Letters from the Wild: Bringing Irish Red Listed Species to Life
Dear friends,
Today I am happy to share a more detailed look into a conceptual project I developed for a module of my MA. I have been sharing snippets of this project over on my Instagram for the past few months. Letters from the Wild is an envisioned fundraising campaign born from a love for our native Irish species. It explores how storytelling can help children feel a deeper connection to the world around them while actively helping animals.
In this post, I am sharing a closer look at the elements developed for the project and some snippets of the creative process. While I designed this specific concept with the Irish Wildlife Trust in mind as a potential partner, the framework is highly adaptable for other animal causes and charities. If you are reading this and have a project or a client in mind that could benefit from this type of visual storytelling and campaign design, I would love to chat about how we could work together.
The Concept: Letters from the Wild
The heart of this idea is that Irish red-listed animals act as pen pals. In this conceptual world, children receive postcards and an activity book written in an animal’s voice. This includes characters like Rory the Red Squirrel, Ríona the Curlew or Aoife the Pine Marten. Each letter offers a charming peek into their daily lives through stories inspired by research into the unique habitats and imagined hobbies of each creature. For example, we meet Aoife the resident sweet tooth who rises early in search of the perfect berry and Barnaby the Northern Bottlenose Whale, who visits the surface at night to count stars.
These Letters From The Wild inspire the next generation to notice and protect the habitats of these special creatures. By turning conservation into a personal correspondence, we bridge the gap between young readers and the wildlife of Ireland. For a brief moment, even the rarest animals can befriend a child.
The Fundraising Pen Pal Pack
As part of this exploration, a central product was designed to function as either a one-off gift or a subscription booklet.
Each pack is imagined as a complete nature adventure, containing:
Personalised, seasonally inspired letters and postcards written from the perspective of different native animals.
A Wildlife Journal for documenting nature finds and outdoor activities.
Collectible animal portrait stamps, designed as miniature "badges of honour".
Mini cards to allow children to share these wild stories with their friends.
Research Approach
The research phase ensured the campaign remained grounded in real-world conservation. Red-listed Irish species were chosen to highlight the creatures in most need of support. As part of the creative process, detailed animal profiles came together by studying their specific habitats and behaviours. This research directly shaped the creative writing, allowing each postcard to carry a voice authentic to the wild nature of the animal.
As part of the research process, I also indulged in the joy of researching antique postage stamps. Am I ready for my stamp collection era? Yes!
I really liked the vintage creature character stamps (see below) but I wanted to pose the Letters from the Wild characters more traditionally, almost like a portrait photo. I also learned a fun trick for the edges. You can use pinking shears, the kind often used for grooming dogs, to replicate those antique ripples. Some of the Nederland antique stamps below are just so charming and I would love to explore this simple line-work approach for future projects.
I also looked at contemporary artists for inspiration when it came to the design of the postcards. While these samples did not necessarily dictate the final illustration style, they sparked the idea to think of the cards as a cohesive set and to be more playful with the layout. I have listed some of my favourite finds below because they are glorious to look at!
Sketch to Finals
Following a busy few weeks of drawing and refining, here is a look at the behind the scenes process. My goal was to capture the personality of each creature in a way that felt true to the animal while keeping a whimsical essence.
A big part of the workflow involved embracing good old thumbnails. These are quick sketches that allow for the exploration of composition without the pressure of perfection. Once I chose a composition that worked for the card, I refined the sketch and moved onto painting them. This approach helped save creative energy for the final painting stage where the textures and colours bring the characters to life. Here you can see a sample of how the Pine Marten and Curlew progressed from an initial sketch to the final colour version.
Materials: Gouache, pencils and Neocolour II crayons. I also used pan pastels to add some texture to the sky.
Materials: Gouache, pencils and Neocolour II crayons and soft pastel
I also created some of the cleaned up versions of the sketches in procreate and transferred them to paper
Developing this concept has been a wonderful way to explore the intersection of illustration and gentle advocacy. The project also reflects the work I love most, which is celebrating the magic of the natural world. By looking at conservation through a gentle and playful lens, these important environmental topics felt more approachable to me and hopefully my audience too.
Whether for children’s content or brands with a heart for the environment, I am always open to exploring how visual storytelling can help protect our wild spaces.
Thank you for following along with this journey.
Note: This project was developed as part of a creative module for my Master’s degree. While it was designed with a specific charity in mind to explore real-world application, it remains a conceptual work and is not an official partnership or live campaign.