From Scribbled Notes to Tiny Companions: How I Create Drea Svea Character Cards

every tiny companion starts here >>> with a blank page, approximately 700 personality options + me becoming emotionally invested in a fictional little weirdo ♡

Before a character becomes a finished collectible card, they usually spend a while living inside one of my notebooks. This is where I test every possible birthday, favorite treat, best friend, secret skill, big dream, obsession + hard pass until the right combination finally makes them feel alive.

Some ideas are cute for approximately three minutes.

Some are immediately rejected.

And some unlock the entire character ✦

meet GiGi < the most trusted source

GiGi is a tiny green bunny from Planet LAFU, but she was never going to be just another sweet little bunny.

Planet LAFU is colorful, soft + full of adorable personalities, so every character needs a completely different reason for existing. GiGi’s lane slowly became very clear: she is calm, collected + professionally nosy.

She keeps the receipts.

She catches plot holes.

She checks the timeline.

And unfortunately for anyone attempting a cover story, she always finds the original post.

Her favorite treat is an iced matcha with extra foam. Her best friend Pip the frog also happens to be her confidential informant. She never goes anywhere without her emotional support notebook + her secret skill is building an entire case from vibes alone.

GiGi’s big dream? Cracking the case everyone insisted “wasn’t that deep.”

Be so for real. The math simply was not mathing.

first comes the personality spiral ✧

My notebook pages are where I let every possible version of a character fight it out.

I write down tiny jokes, personality traits, favorite things, dramatic backstories + completely unnecessary details. I move things around, cross them out, rewrite them + occasionally become way too emotionally invested in whether a fictional bunny would prefer macarons or iced matcha.

This part looks chaotic because it is chaotic.

But it is also where the characters start telling me who they are.

Once the right details begin clicking together, the character stops feeling like a list of cute ideas. Suddenly she has opinions. She has lore. She has a best friend with classified information. She has a reason to serve side-eye.

She becomes GiGi.

from notebook chaos to a finished card >>>

After the personality is locked in, I turn all of that colorful notebook chaos into a finished collectible card.

Every character card is drawn by me on my iPad. I illustrate the character, build their little environment, hand draw the headings + add all the tiny objects that make their world feel real.

For GiGi, that meant stacks of receipts, timelines, screenshots + spreadsheets. It meant her detective hat, her notebook, her desk lamp, Pip the frog + an iced matcha waiting nearby.

The final card may be digital, but every line, word + tiny detail is drawn and arranged by hand.

And yes, fitting an entire personality into one little rectangle is an extremely serious operation.

the card + the companion ♡

The physical Puff Pal and the illustrated character feed into each other.

Colors, textures + tiny sculpted details help shape the drawing. Then the finished card reveals even more about the little creature you are holding. It turns a handmade object into someone with a birthday, a best friend, a favorite treat + an alarmingly specific personal history.

That is the part I love most.

I am not just making a cute little lighter case or bag charm. I am building an entire universe of tiny companions with their own planets, personalities, friendships + emotional support objects.

Each one is made by hand.

Each one is completely one of a kind.

And apparently each one requires several notebook pages of lore before I can let them leave the house.

the universe is getting bigger + weirder ✦

GiGi is only one little local inside the growing Drea Svea universe.

There are romantic clowns from Planet HAHA, suspicious bunnies from Planet LAFU, cosmic flea market bears from Planet URSA + many more strange little sweeties currently waiting inside my notebooks.

I am drawing them one by one, learning who they are + slowly connecting all of their tiny worlds.

Meet the locals, explore Planet LAFU + find the tiny companion who has already been gathering evidence that you belong together ♡

tiny companion. big attachment.