PRAWER
Creativity Makes the World Go Round
Stop-motion films, paintings, photographs, and one very determined mouse. This is a little corner of the internet where my imagination lives.
Drawn &
painted.
Characters, illustrations, and works on paper.
Built &
sculpted.
Sculptures, sets, and small worlds made by hand.
The Castle.
A nearly five-foot-tall papier-mâché and mixed-media castle, built by hand.
This past summer, I decided to build a nearly five-foot-tall papier-mâché and mixed-media castle simply because the idea made me happy. Inspired by medieval villages and storybook towers, I shaped every wall, arch and turret by hand—then layered on a candy-striped spire, a scalloped awning, hand-painted swirls, and a roof of tiny individually placed shingles. It was a lesson in patience and problem-solving: figuring out how to make something that big stand on its own, and how to make it feel like a world you could step inside.
Birthday Blues.
Award-winning stop-motion short
A handmade coming-of-age story about nostalgia, anxiety and the fear of growing up. I spent months building the miniature bedroom set by hand (based loosely on my own bedroom design)—sawing the wood floor, sewing the bedding, pillows and drapes, creating Emma’s outfit, adding lighting, installing tiny wall details, and designing a miniature scrapbook filled with personal family memories. I then used ~1,000 individual stop-motion photographs to bring the story to life, weaving in original childhood music written by my older brother, Cole. The film reflects the part of my process I love most: patience, problem-solving and making an imagined world feel real. It received a Silver Key from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and was screen at the ETHOS Film Awards at the Laemmle Monica Film Center in Santa Monica.
Building Birthday Blues, by hand.
From a cardboard shell to a lit, lived-in room—five glimpses into how the set came together before a single frame was shot.
01My Room, Reimagined
The finished set: a miniature bedroom built inside a cardboard shell, wallpapered in a teal floral print and lit with warm fairy lights.
02Behind the Scenes
Hand-placing every tiny detail—from cut-paper eyes to a hand-stitched quilt—one careful adjustment at a time.
03Daydreaming
The doll rests on her plaid bed, surrounded by a "13 Going on 30" poster, a Beatles print, a to-do list, and an alarm clock frozen at 8:22 PM.
04Hanging Out on Set
String lights woven through the rafters turn the cardboard box into a lived-in room, with a teal chair, a lace-trimmed vanity, and a polaroid on the wood-plank floor.
05The Nitty-Gritty
The tools that built the world: tape, scissors, a craft knife, paint, and pliers, all within arm’s reach of the set.
Other films.
More handmade stories, told frame by frame.
Pesto Wants
to Be Big.
Illustrated children’s book
Pesto is an adorable, petite mouse who usually does not mind being small—until one particularly obstacle-filled day leaves him frustrated with his size. After a series of unsuccessful attempts to make himself bigger, Pesto’s mom reminds him that every mouse is different, and that is a good thing. Pesto comes to see that being small does not limit his possibilities and can even come with its own wonderful advantages.
At its heart, the book is about self-acceptance: no-one needs to change themselves in order to feel confident; embracing the qualities that make you YOU can be transformative. The project began as doodles in a 9th-grade math class, became an independent study in 10th grade, and grew into a book I wrote, illustrated, designed and published myself. I also wrote a related research paper exploring how children’s books can support empathy, emotional development, literacy and moral thinking.
That's me.
Hi, I'm Willa.
I’m Willa Prawer, an artist and storyteller from the Pacific Palisades, California. I’ve been making art since I was three years old and have spent more than 14 years now and counting drawing, painting, building, experimenting, and learning to tell stories through all kinds of media. And I love every minute of it.
My work tends to be colorful, whimsical, expressive, and very hands-on. I love creating characters, small worlds, and pieces that feel playful and alive. Sometimes I create with a story or message in mind, and sometimes I create just to create. This past summer, for example, I decided to build a nearly five-foot-tall paper-mâché and mixed-media castle simply because the idea made me happy.
On this site, you’ll find a sampling of my art over the years, along with my illustrated children’s book, Pesto Wants to Be Big, a story about self-acceptance and learning to love yourself for who you are—through the eyes of a tiny mouse. You’ll also find my stop-motion films Birthday Blues and Skin and Bones. Combined they took hundreds of hours to create, from building miniature sets by hand to sewing tiny bedding, constructing floors, adding lighting, photographs, posters, and countless small details before taking frame after frame to bring the stories to life.
Both films received recognition from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, which I’m very proud of. What I love most, though, is the process itself—the patience, problem-solving, and joy of taking something that exists only in my imagination and figuring out how to make it real.
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