I immediately started from the design of Annie's character. She is pretty, kind and smiling. She has the ginger hair, the big blue and expressive eyes, the strong shape of the eyebrows, the slightly potato nose, the very fine upper lip and the lower fleshy and a little bit freckles.
For her look, I wanted to give her a style that is not too old and childish but comfortable using neutral colors ranging from cream to brown. The button of his sweater are actually Pecan nuts and I wanted to give her a small shoulder strap where she could perhaps put the collected nuts.
I designed the flying owl so it didn't look like a pet. It is an owl in flight, free and a very big animal (as requested). The two characters together give strength in the structure, and in the colors maybe that's why I find that they are balanced and work well together.