Sara Franklin lives in Southern California, where she is the creator of Paper Loop greeting cards. She first created a map of California as a personal project and has since continued to make maps of many other states and countries.

Using watercolors with a light touch, and letting the paper shine through, Franklin achieves colors that rival actual plants and animals in vibrancy and luminescence. When looking at her illustrations, consider that watercolor painting is purely additive. You can’t add light colors atop darker colors. Effects like white speckles on a green fish or white highlights on a butterfly’s wings, for example, require careful advance planning and are a sign of mastery.