I’m Natalie - the owner, artist, business-woman, illustrator, contact-person, and just about anything else you could think of that goes on with Happy Bear Designs.

I’ve always been passionate about portraits and capturing the essence of people through my art. From a young age, I could almost always be found with either a pencil or a camera in my hands. I was either drawing the people around me or capturing them through photos.

My first job after college was as a wedding photographer. And I loved it. It was everything I ever wanted - documenting people and specific moments of their lives, creating pieces of art they could treasure forever.

When my husband and I packed up and moved abroad to Australia for a few years in 2016, I decided to use the opportunity of a location change to also make a job change, and I went from creating portraits through photographs to creating portraits through my other passion - illustration, and Happy Bear Designs was born. Since 2016, I’ve had the honor of illustrating over 800 custom portraits for customers all over the world, and I can’t wait to create something special for you.

Happy Bear Designs is now based out Los Angeles. When I’m not illustrating, I can most often be found planning travels and trips with my husband, snuggled up on the couch with my cat, B.B., or spending way too much time in vintage/antique stores.