Love Bug...Bug

My roomie's mama is getting married...to her husband of 30 years! They never had a real ceremony, and now that they've got so much to celebrate, they're doing it in style this summer!

I was commissioned to make the illustration for the wedding program. This little guy--a "bug bug"--has a story. The two met while carpooling to med school in an old yellow Volkswagen Beetle. Thus, the love bug. The wedding is grapefruit-colored, so I did some color tweaking in PS for two versions.
And because cute is always good, she asked me to add some little buggy details like wings and teensy legs. Yay! Anthropomorphism!

Oh, and this is my first ever foray into the territory of gouache, which was MIND BLOWING! So flippin' hard to blend, but once I gave up on gradients, I really got into the groove. I can see gouache being excellent for shape-based, UPA-style tv animation BG's and the like. Also for Brittney-Lee style illustrations. Excited for the future!

Enjoy: