meet the artist behind this happy little ocean

There’s a lot of joy swimming around in Sha’an d’Anthes’ work. Better known as Furry Little Peach, the Sydney/Warrane illustrator, artist and children’s author creates fun, nostalgic work inspired by childlike wonder. Her latest project is a collaboration with Greenpeace: a super-cute ocean wildlife illustration called “Happy Ocean Happy Planet”, which features local marine creatures on a limited-edition t-shirt. We chatted to Sha’an about finding inspiration in nature, the story behind the design and why hope can be a powerful thing.

Hi Sha’an! What do you love about drawing animals and nature? I love all of the different shapes, colours and narratives you get to explore when drawing animals and nature. I’m also a city-slicker these days, and so I think that my work is a sort of escapism, for myself and hopefully for my audience.

How did the Greenpeace collaboration come about? I went to the premiere of David Attenborough’s documentary Ocean and felt compelled to create something to share the message of the film. This t-shirt is actually based on that illustration, including the tagline I included when I shared it: “A Happy Ocean is a Happy Planet”. I’m so grateful Greenpeace approached me for the project – it was a blast.
Where did you start when creating the design? The Happy Ocean tee starts the same as all of my work – with a brainstorm or brain dump and really loose concept sketches. I actually asked Greenpeace to help me with the research of local marine life and they were so accommodating. They very quickly delivered me a huge list of local species of fish, mammals and coral, and I just went through and looked up each creature and curated a little group of sea life that I thought would look sweet together – a mix of sizes, types, colours, textures and shapes.What did you use to create the artwork? So much of my work is traditional, but when it comes to things like t-shirts I always use digital drawing programs because I like to draw each colour on a separate layer. This requires me to jump in and out of layers, but it allows me to control colour and printing. When working digitally, I always sketch in Procreate, an Australian digital art app, and then with this project I created the final art in Adobe Fresco because it called for a vector graphic – an image that can be blown up to any size.

Do you have a favourite creature in the design? I love painting humpback whales and always have, but I also have a soft spot for the sweet little jelly blubber jellyfish.What did you want people to feel when they saw the artwork? I specifically wanted to focus on the outcome that all of us want to see – a happy, thriving ocean where creatures are given the time and space to balance themselves. I feel that even when tackling tough subjects, leaning into hope is my natural inclination. As long as we have hope that things can be better, we will continue to take action.

What was the most fun part of creating it? I actually documented the entire process of this project in a studio vlog on YouTube, and you can see how much fun I’m having doing the final art, jumping between layers and building the image. I had just come off completing the final art for two books, which are multi-year-long projects, so being able to do a project from start to finish in just a few days was really freeing at the time.What does a “happy ocean” mean to you? An ocean that is given the time and space to repair and balance itself. Something I really took away from David Attenborough’s Ocean is that ocean ecosystems are actually really good at repairing themselves if we just let them do their thing.

How can people get their hands on the t-shirt? The shirt is a thank you gift for joining as a regular giver to Greenpeace – those who sign up will receive the tee after their third month of donations. 

How is Greenpeace helping to make our oceans happier places? They have a deep focus on the health and happiness of our oceans through advocating for the set-up of marine sanctuaries, holding big ocean polluters to account and calling for a ban on deep-sea mining.

What are you working on next? I will be jumping headfirst into Peachtober – an annual daily art challenge I run each year. If there are any artists reading this, it’s a great time, so please come join!

In terms of publications, my next picture book, The Late Bird, will be out in February 2027, published by HarperCollins US. Then I have a creative activity book for adults coming out next August with Chronicle US and Penguin Australia. Otherwise, you can always check out what I’m tinkering away with in my studio on Instagram and YouTube.

This article was produced in partnership with Greenpeace. Become a regular giver and receive the limited-edition Happy Ocean Happy Planet tee by Furry Little Peach on your third month. Find out more on the Greenpeace website.