The four purposes (the 4 P's) are part of an overhaul of the Welsh education system. Essentially, they describe key characteristics and skills that a child should develop throughout school. The goal is by the end of school they will leave a well-rounded and skilled individual. 

One of the key issues with the 4 P's however is the language isn't built for children to easily understand. What does 'Ethical and Informed Citizen' mean to an 8 year old? Probably not a whole lot.

This is why Melissa Armishaw, headteacher of Waunfawr Primary School came to me for help. She wanted to create a set of four characters and their environments to embody these 4 P's. 

Instead of just hearing the word "Ethical and Informed" they are presented with a dragon meditating in a room surrounded by key items chosen to give clues to the personality. The posters are detailed in a way that allows children to find more to identify with the more they look.

You may also notice these dragons are gender neutral. This was a very deliberate decision by the school as they wanted all the children to be able to identify with the dragons for who they are- not because they look like them or are their gender. Other artistic renditions of the 4 P's have children representing each quality which can limit kids in who they identify with.

Eyri was the very first dragon I drew for this project. Their mane is based off daffodils and they're a keen reader. In the back of their house they have a workshop and their bookcase is stuffed full of creative knowledge. Boardgames sit alongside books on computing for this knowledge-seeking dragon.

Eyri's mountain is seen both as a painting and as the view from their window

Cadri is probably the most chilled out dragon. With a keen interest in mindfulness, meditation and looking after this environment this dragon improves the world around them. An avid reader they participate in politics and even win community centered awards.

With this dragon the school wanted to reflect the children in the school some more so we included pink locs and a chill out tent and bean bags.

As with all the dragons the mountain they're named after is seen in the background, this time as a painting.

Twmba is a dragon who embodies healthy lifestyles and feeling confident in yourself. To clue in to this we included a social area, sports hoop and home grown herbs. The mountain Twmba is named after is seen in the background.

You may notice that this sporty dragon is also the only one without four legs. The decision to make this dragon a wyvern was deliberate as it can be interpreted as  missing a limb- something that would often be seen as a disability. This dragon has overcome that and is clearly very fit and healthy.

Their haircut is also based off sports star Jess Fishlock with their musculature deliberately design not to be over-the-top. This dragon is fit and healthy not a body builder with muscles for show.

Pen was the last dragon in the series I worked on. This Enterprising and creative contributor is probably the closest to myself of the four. Set in their own shop this dragon is an entrepreneur with community spirit. Their shop, The Dragon's Cwtch, is named after my own business before I changed the name to Mim Gibbs Creates.

This dragon is unique in that they're wearing props. An overall, glasses, paintbrush and beret all contribute to their traits. Their shop also features a small painting of Cadri as well as a view of their mountain in the distance.

These dragons and their environments were made using Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Designer, Google Sketchup and Procreate- not to mention old fashioned pencil and paper.

Sketchbook was used to ensure the perspective was right for the backgrounds. Linework was completed in Affinity Designer along with the bulk of the colour work. Concepting was a split between Procreate and my sketchbook. I prefer Affinity Designer for linework as it gives much more control over the thickness of line when compared to Illustrator.