Willard’s World

Willard’s World Merch

Willard's World

Back in December 2023, I got to thinking how fun it would be to have more Willard merch using cute digital illustrations…sort of in the style of Hello Kitty, Richard Scarry and other vintage kids illustration influences. Sure, I have a treasure trove of photos but sometimes they don’t scale well and it can be hard to remove the background. The only problem? I had no confidence in my Adobe Illustrator skills (and even my regular analog illustration skills were rusty), and I also didn’t want to hire someone out because I could see this being something I’d want to add to and adjust pretty often.

I made the decision to dive in and figure it out! That led to my realizing that I also loved illustrating all kinds of anthropomorphic animals and I formed a whole new branch of my business (my animal art). However, now armed with a lot of confidence with Adobe Illustrator, I finally circled back and created some preliminary Willard’s World repeat prints/vectors!

I have two prints in two different colorways:

and you can see some product mock-ups below. Please comment and let me know if there are other products you’d like to see or other variations on these prints! I definitely plan to adapt the pajama Willard print to a Christmas theme as well! (as for the bucket hat–it’s not something I ever imagined doing but I felt strangely compelled to!)

Way Home Academy of Big Feelings

Willard's World

School’s not quite out for the summer and Ms. Willette is the new head teacher at the Way Home Academy of Big Feelings. All four pupils will soon be available for adoption so be sure to sign up for my mailing list to get details on when/where and how to buy!

Crystal cleansing with Rusty

Willard's World

Rusty and Willard finally got to catch up and have a heart to heart about the Mother Willard fiasco. Rusty brought all of his best crystals and made a special spell jar just for the occasion. He waved a moonstone tower around and muttered something about bathing Willard in love and light, and fashioned a little altar to hold mother Willard in safety and peace, whether she likes it or not. All Willard knows is he felt better after the whole thing, plus now he’s also got a new thing to shop online for (crystals).

Let it Grow

Uncategorized, Willard's World

With Mother Willard still at large, Willard and Willette had to return to regular life. What better way to shake off the disappointment than to get his vegetable garden all ready to go.

Willard’s favorite vegetable to grow is purple pak choi, and his least favorite are snap peas only because Ms. Blodgett steals them!

Mother Willard Missing

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As we saw in the Instagram video below, Mother Willard wasn’t able to stick with the planned family outing and instead jumped out of the truck and hid in the bushes.

Later, a mysterious woman stopped at the Way Home General store to purchase a soda.

That day, frantic Willard and Willette looked everywhere for their mother and even distributed “missing” posters. They brought one to Marty.

Marty couldn’t put his finger on it, but something looked awfully familiar about this creature…

Meet Marty

Willard's World

A new personality in the Way Home Universe was introduced last week: Marty. He is one of two employees of the Way Home General Store (the other employee, Dwight, we have yet to meet) and is passionate about his job…although I’d like him to consider taking a vacation for his mental health. Then again, he doesn’t sound confident in Dwight’s abilities to do anything other than make a breakfast sandwich and there are a lot more tasks involved in keeping the Way Home General up and running!

Like Kenneth and Rusty, Marty’s voice and some of his mannerisms were inspired by my upbringing in rural Vermont and my familiarity with country store culture!

When I make dolls to sell, I dress them in brand new clothes. When I make dolls to keep as my Way Home Universe characters, I can dress them in used clothing as well. I found these FILA sneakers at a local thrift store and couldn’t resist them. I felt they were older and worn enough not to necessarily require that the wearer be a basketball player (Marty does not play sports, unless you count ring toss). I also found the perfect country flannel for him.

Mother Willard

Uncategorized, Willard's World

Willard and Willette found their mother, but the visit was a little disappointing. She was asleep when they arrived and kept talking about how she needed to be back by three o’clock to watch her show.