Wildthings Worldwide is a design series by Australian artist Pamela Drewitt Smith.
In the 1990’s Pamela was asked by the company Valentine Sands in Melbourne, Australia if they could use 6 Australian animals from the original Wildthings series to sell on cards nationally and internationally.
After a while, the designs were copied illegally and sold on a range of t-shirts. “Friends would tell me that they saw people wearing the t-shirts, and one day I saw one of the animal designs on a t-shirt myself. I thought, ‘That’s it! I didn’t license the designs for somebody else to rip off, I’ll take care of it myself.’ ”
“Now the US-based Zazzle organisation produces and distributes the merchandise, while I control royalties and donate 25% of sales to animal welfare organisations. Hopefully with increased sales, the donation percentage will also increase.”
”As an artist I feel its my small contribution to use my visual skills to help increase awareness for the world’s endangered species.”
“Now, I can increase the endangered Wildthings Worldwide range and use it as a vehicle to help raise awareness about ongoing threats to our wildlife, including vanishing habitats, poaching, illegal trade in animal parts, and climate change.”
Wildthingsworldwide original endangered animal designs were created using black ink and a paintbrush on paper with spot colour added on Photoshop. All designs are Copyright of the artist.
Email: pamela.drewittsmith@gmail.com
Further work by the artist: http://pameladrewittsmith.com/