Liv VORS (and Gene)

 

  

 

 

Liv is a police officer and an Edmonton-based illustrator who loves animals, naps and coffee. She hails from northeastern Saskatchewan and has been drawing ever since she was old enough to hold a crayon. Prior to policing, Liv worked in wildlife biology and was alsoa nationally published food writer. Liv has always wanted her artwork in a book. See below for her web cartoon showcasing the lighter side of law enforcement.
Here are the illustrations she created for my book.....

 

Follow Liv Vors, our talented illustrator, on Instagram
@thinbluescribble 


It takes a lot of imagination and time to create drawings for a children's book. Sometimes a real-life picture would give Liv inspiration what to draw. Other times, Liv and Copper would brainstorm together an idea for an illustration. Below are some comparisons to the real photos of when Copper and I worked together. The illustrations to follow the real photos  are Liv's creativity, which always entertained and fascinated Copper how well Liv captured Hershey's expressions. 

 

The cover photo was inspired by a picture of Copper and me speaking at a youth event in City Hall.

 

This is my human sister's friend, Cohen, whowas brushing my teeth.

 

 

This was my first trip to see a facility dog whose real name was Flossy. In the book, Marley is named after one of Liv's friend's dog. 

 

My trip to the senior's centre. Doug, in the book, is actually Copper's Papa.

 

I'm not allowed in the garden at home and I snuck in once and got very muddy.

 

This teacher works at my human brother's school. She LOVES dogs and was the inspiration for this illustration.

 

For my first birthday in Copper's office she put a party hat on my head. It wasn't for my graduation, but in the story Copper made it that way.

 

My first day when Copper adopted me. I was three months old. This is my human brother and sister.

 

This is me looking at a calf on our friend's farm. And a picture of Smooch in my animal therapy class.

 

 



This is Smooch who was in my animal therapy school. He can be mistaken for a dog in this photo, but he truly is a pig! I was fascinated by him. His tricks were top shelf and he ate a very large salad for lunch!

 

This is my bed at home. I was about five months old in this picture.

 

 

This girl the Copper and I worked withwas always so happy to see me, as many students were.

You can read this girl's true story! It is the last chapter in an anthology book called, "After the Force."

 

 

For the restorative justice circle, Liv thought it would be nice to have everyone sitting on a rug with indigenous colours. Beautiful result.

 



Liv, the creative genius she is, used her imagination of what Copper's desk would look like with the bottom drawer full of dog cookies.

 


This was one of Liv's earliest illustrations, capturing magnificently Hershey's fear of police uniforms, and Copper's quandary of how to solve it.

 



Similar to the above photo, Liv relates to her readers the level of anxiety a person or animal can have regarding police officers in their uniforms.

 

Copper used to drive a Hummer when she was in Recruiting Unit so she thought it would be fun to put it in the story. 

When Liv sent us this illustration, we almost rolled on the floor with hysterical laughter. Liv knocked this drawing out of the park with her fantastic humour and skilled handiwork.  HERDING IS LAME!!!!!!!

 


Liv researched a picture of what a border collie would look like while catching a toy. I love how Liv's detail of the girl, who is so tiny in the background, is clearly having fun playing with Hershey.

 

Inspector Dan!!! Finally, I can express gratitude to Copper's former Inspector, Dan Jones. He recently retired in early 2022, but while he was in Youth Unit, he encouraged Copper to think outside of the box. High-adrenaline crimes required high-adrenaline interventions in order to engage with those individuals. Dan taught Copper to find mentors for the youth she works with which always made a world of difference.

 


Although the manuscript was fully written when Liv began her illustrations, Copper couldn't help but add a few extra lines like, ".....my fur stuck straight out..." after receiving the cute drawing.



 


Anyone who knows Copper, knows she loves horses. This illustration brought a tear to tough 'ol Copper when Liv drew a picture of Molly and how happy this girl looks on her back. Copper loves the impact that animals can have on children and this drawing expresses it so very well. 

 


If you have read this story, you know that Copper and Hershey worked together for over three years. This drawing shows how much Hershey loved his job. Copper knew they had something special when they were working together and she cherished each and every day. 

 


Copper still has this drawing as her screensaver on her laptop. Liv's terrific sense of humour shines through in this illustration. 

 

In the story, Hershey begins to rely on the skills and teachings of his dog father, Hershey Senior. From the yoga stretches he was taught every morning, to playing as keeper in a soccer match in this chapter. This drawing is fun and colourful, but also teaches kids that a lot of the lessons our parents teach us aren't appreciated until later on in life, or later on in the story in Hershey's case.

 

 

Hershey's human sister, and editor of the book, Jaimie Hoglund, knew right away when he was only three months old that he would make a great therapy dog. It was the perfect introduction for the true tail to have a picture of a girl reading to Hershey, which they did together in real life many, many times.

 

As Liv says, "Disapproving father!" Hershey Senior is a major character in the story and although he is entirely fictional, he plays a strong role in the book. Liv captures the relationship between him and his son for readers to apply to their own life, or possibly someone they know.

 


What child doesn't love a book that includes stuffies!!?? Hershey has all these exact stuffies and MORE at home! Porcupine, Racoon, Frog, Possum......all readers will be able to relate the importance stuffies play in their lives.

 

When Liv and I began working on this project together, we knew that many children would love to hear as much as they can about the policing world. Although fingerprints are done electronically now of course, we thought it would be fun to display a drawing of the old fashioned way of printing right down to the orange-scented soap in the text of this chapter.

 

This illustration is important in the story to show that Copper is a 'normal' person and not a police officer 24/7. 

© Copyright Hershey the Police Therapy Dog