Rio Olympics Tanuki!

Tanuki reaching out to make friends with the Olympic mascot, Vinicius.  Nothing says peace like sharing cookies! 

Did you know that the mascot for the 2016 Rio Olympics looks like an animated cartoon character?  His name is Vinicius and they made actual animated shorts with him that played on Brazil's Cartoon Network. 

He looked like a fun character so I tried drawing my version and it didn't turn out half bad.  Vinicius is a combination of animals that you can find in Brazil and full of color to lift your spirits. 

The illustration of Tanuki with a gold medal, excuse me- a chocolate chip cookie medal, was a fun idea my publisher and I came up with.  We wanted to honor the amazing athletes in the Olympics and show the support Fried Chicken and Sushi gives to both the U.S. and Japan. 

Congratulations athletes of the 2016 Olympic games!  Tanuki couldn't decide which country to support so he just went for both.

I love everything about the Olympics, the greatest athletes competing and bringing the world together.  My whole family is looking forward to Tokyo hosting it next in 2020!  I'm sure it will be magical.