Chinese Zodiac - Year of the Rat by Stephanie Smith
Stephanie Smith

Chinese Zodiac - Year of the Rat by

The Rat is part of series of the 12 Animal signs of the Chinese Zodiac. In the foreground is the Chinese character for the Rat.

Rat people are said to be clever, meticulous, and charming.
You are probably a Rat if you were born in 2008, 1996, 1984, 1972, 1960, 1948, 1936, or 1924, but double-check the exact dates if your birthday is in mid-January to mid-February because the Lunar New Year is on a different date each year. Wikipedia’s Chinese Zodiac page is a good starting point for more information about all of the signs and their meanings.

Drawn with a brush-pen on 11×14″ bristol paper with digital color. Copyright 2009 Stephanie Smith, contact me for re-use and customization!

This image is also available in black and white in full color cards and wall art and as T-shirts.


Part of the Chinese Zodiac 2010 Calendar

Also available on a variety of other gift items in my Zazzle shop — new items weekly!

And on ornaments and other gifts in my CafePress shop

See the rest of the work in the: Chinese Zodiac series



Other variations:

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About Stephanie Smith

Stephanie Smith is an illustrator and graphic designer who loves to draw.

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Tags

animal, astrology, birthday card, birthsign, chinese zodiac, chinesezodiaccolor, ftsanimals, ink, rodent, year of the rat

Comments

  • Lynsye Medalia
    Lynsye Medaliaover 2 years ago

    What a cute, wise, little pack rat! :) I love it! (’84 here)

  • Thank you Lynsye!

    – Stephanie Smith

  • BGlatzeder
    BGlatzederover 2 years ago

    love this series, great illustration style, very charming xx

  • Thanks, Barbara! Yours is looking great too…. these sets of 12 take a lot of work, don’t they? :)

    – Stephanie Smith

  • MoonSpiral
    MoonSpiralover 2 years ago

    You actually made the rat look noble. Love all of these Stephanie!

  • Thank you! The rat in this context symbolizes compassion, communication, and cleverness, so I tried to bring that across in the drawing.
    (Guess I need to add that to the description, LOL)

    – Stephanie Smith

  • Katya Lavorovna
    Katya Lavorovnaabout 1 year ago

    Exquisite drawing and composition.

  • Thank you, Katya!

    – Stephanie Smith

  • Cindy Schnackel
    Cindy Schnackelabout 1 year ago

    Wonderful work; I like the variations, too!

  • Thanks Cindy! Sometimes I fear having so many versions is a sign of chronic indecisiveness but they’re TOO much fun, lol!

    – Stephanie Smith

  • Zack Nichols
    Zack Nichols11 months ago

    First across the river…
    Nice work.

  • Thanks, Zack!

    – Stephanie Smith

  • artsmithstudios
    artsmithstudios6 months ago

    Nice work! This is my Chinese Zodiac sign!! Looks great!!! I will be ordering something of this image from you soon!!

  • Thank you so much!

    – Stephanie Smith