Illustrator and animator Syd Weiler is somewhat of an internet celebrity – all because of a doodle of a pigeon. “People loved this silly little pigeon drawing,” she admitted in an interview with The Great Discontent. So much so, that this silly pigeon ended out turning in to a sticker set on Facebook, attracting more viral attention.
Like most viral phenomenas, it began with a simple observation. The setting was Loring Park in Minneapolis and Weiler was watching the pigeons gathering around her bench. “I’d never really thought about pigeons before, but they’re kind of weird,” she says, “their feathers are iridescent in the sunlight, but they kind of bobble around strangely.”
“They’re pretty, but also kind of dumb,” jokes Weiler. And so, being the creative spirit that she is, she took to work, quickly sketching the pigeon in front of her and then tweeting that sketch. “It ended up becoming my most popular tweet!”
Things sort of spiraled from there, making her pigeon the ultimate icon for all things silly. But though we originally arrived at Weiler’s Instagram page thanks to that pigeon, her portfolio proves she has much more to offer. And with clients that include Adobe, Mattel, and TIME Magazine, we’re clearly not the only ones taking note. Here are some less popular images by her:
