Touc Fruits

Illustration Graphic

A pale-yellow repeating pattern with four cartoon toucan species perched on pink branches among green palm fronds, papaya, mango, bananas, apples, strawberries, and colored cereal rings.

Client: Personal project
Sector: Consumer Goods
Date: 2021
Software: Photoshop

Touc Fruits

Illustration Graphic

Touc Fruits

Illustration Graphic

Four toucans in one tropical pattern

The name set the ingredients

I created Touc Fruits as a personal pattern-design project in 2021. Its name brings toucans, fruit, and a fruit cereal shaped like colored rings into the same world. I placed those rings among papaya, mango, banana, apple, and strawberry, making the wordplay part of the repeat itself.

Square crop of the finished Touc Fruits repeat on white: four cartoon toucan species perch on winding pink branches among green palm fronds, papaya, mango, bananas, apples, strawberries, and bright cereal rings.

From sketch to pattern

I sketched birds, branches, palm fronds, fruit, and rings as parts of the same tile. Line and color developed together. In the finished pattern, the long branches and overlapping palm leaves set the rhythm; smaller fruit and rings occupy the spaces between the birds.

Reference collage pairing photographs of several toucan species with mangoes, bananas, apples, strawberries, papaya, multicolored ring cereal, palm leaves, and a breakfast bowl.

Three-panel process sheet: loose gray sketches of toucans, branches, fruit, and leaves; blue line drawings with early color tests on pale turquoise; and the finished bright pattern on white.

Four beaks, four species

The tile brings together the keel-billed, white-throated, yellow-throated, and toco toucans. I drew all four with the same rounded shapes and loose line, while keeping the beak profiles and plumage colors that distinguish each species.

The repeating pattern with four illustrated birds circled and labeled in Portuguese: tucano-de-bico-arco-íris, tucano-de-peito-branco, tucano-de-mandíbula-preta, and tucano-toco, each with its scientific name.

The Portuguese labels correspond to keel-billed, white-throated, yellow-throated, and toco toucans.

Color behind the drawing

The pattern comes in turquoise, green, pale yellow, pink, and lavender. The five backgrounds take it from cool to warm palettes, with the drawing and repeat intact.

Touc Fruits repeat on a pale turquoise ground, with dark blue toucans, pink branches, green palm fronds, fruit, and colored cereal rings.

Touc Fruits repeat on a pale green ground, with the same toucans, branches, palm fronds, fruit, and colored cereal rings.

Touc Fruits repeat on a pale yellow ground, with the same toucans, branches, palm fronds, fruit, and colored cereal rings.

Touc Fruits repeat on a soft pink ground, with the same toucans, branches, palm fronds, fruit, and colored cereal rings.

Touc Fruits repeat on a light lavender ground, with the same toucans, branches, palm fronds, fruit, and colored cereal rings.

Across objects and screens

Mug, cushion, slip-on shoes, T-shirt, tablets, and phones: the applications show how the same pattern behaves across curved objects, fabric, footwear, and digital screens.