Art by Tlouey

Hailing from Central Alberta, Tlouey is a dedicated artist and writer with over 20 years of experience creating a diverse range of works, including book covers, children’s illustrations, tabletop games, album art, and band posters. Working primarily in physical media, Tlouey illustrates with watercolours and Pitt artist pens to create vibrant, character-rich pieces. With a portfolio spanning many styles and subjects, Tlouey is still best known for illustrating colourful unicorns - especially the iconic purple zebra unicorns (zebracorns).

Why Zebracorns?

Growing up different in a small, rural community can feel like being a zebra among horses, as no matter what you do, you stick out. The unicorn aspect symbolizes queerness and magic. It is a reflection of identity, resilience, imagination, and nature.

Tlouey's purple Zebracorn series began as a healing celebration of the beauty of being different. Early pieces feature vibrant, joyful zebracorns surrounded by crystals and flowers. They were created during a time when it felt like acceptance was growing, when progress for queer, disabled, and neurodivergent people in Canada felt real and hard-won.

In more recent years, that sense of safety has begun to fracture. While difference has always been stigmatized, the current cultural and political backsliding feels especially sharp... and deeply personal. Rights feel more fragile. Rhetoric feels louder. The world feels less predictable. And so the zebracorns have changed, too. Perspectives have warped. Forms have distorted. The imagery has grown stranger, more unsettled, and at times devastating as a reflection of the uncertainty of living visibly different in this moment... and of how it feels to be seen as different.

And yet, nature still prevails. We are nature. And like the zebracorns, even in distortion, even in fear, we remain resilient. We remain beautiful. We remain magical.

Because diversity is magic.

"Stop Killing Us"

8.5 x 11 inches
Watercolour & Ink
2025