A Brief History of Winston

You're probably familiar with Winston, our exclusive shop character. He's been around for over a year, and you can find him on our samplers, sticker sheets, and even livening up our Instagram posts! You might also know that he is hand drawn and can be found doing just about any activity from grocery shopping to crafting. What you might not know, though, is the history behind this cute little.....bear? Rabbit? Dog? So I'm here to fill you in ☺

Some of our most popular Winston sheets!

When I started hand drawing items for the shop in November of 2017, one of the things I originally wanted was a shop character. I am a big fan of them from other shops, so of course I wanted one for my own business. The only problem was, I had no idea where to start. Not only was I a new and inexperienced artist, but I wasn't sure what type of character to even begin doodling. A human? A bird, since we are Nightingale Paper Co? Something super unique like an insect or sea creature?

While I was mulling all this over I decided to just draw for the sake of it. I created a few things - aliens, humans, gingerbread men - and eventually tried to draw a hedgehog, one of my favorite animals (I also like sloths and elephants ☺). 

I sketched out the oblong, chubby body, and then added the adorable round ears and stumpy tail. I penciled in the short, cuddly legs and drew in a button nose, eyes, and a mouth. I started to go in and add the quills but....I didn't feel like the drawing needed it. So I left it like it was.

And thus, Winston was born!

Obviously he isn't exactly a hedgehog - he doesn't have a snout and his tail is too round, plus he lacks the quills - which is probably why most people label him as a bear or dog. He was intended to be a hedgehog, but rest assured, I'm very pleased with him being Winston!

My sister, Ashley, actually came up with Winston's name. I showed him to her and asked what she thought his name should be, and she immediately replied with, 'Winston!" So that was that. 

The first Winston I ever drew was sleepy Winston. My all time favorite Winston is eating Winston, which also happens to be our best selling Winston sheet! Of course, I love all the sheets and can't wait to add even more to the shop.

I hope you enjoyed learning a little about Winston! Thank you so much for reading!

♥ Amber