Rodrigo Vasconcelos’ winning sticker design (Rodrigo Vasconcelos)
By Annemarie Conca
Barnstable’s annual Natural Resources sticker contest has named local artist Rodrigo Vasconcelos as its 2026 winner.
The contest invites artists to submit original designs highlighting local wildlife. It offers emerging artists an opportunity to gain recognition and share their work with the community. This year’s prompt called for an illustration of a white-tailed deer, a species native to Cape Cod and important to the region’s ecosystem.
Vasconcelos said he learned about the contest through his graphic design professor, Ava Fedrov, who introduced it as an optional assignment.
“I have an admiration for wildlife on Cape and it was fun to be able to do an illustration of an animal, as I usually do more portrait work in my art,” Vasconcelos said.
Vasconcelos has been creating art since childhood, primarily focusing on portraits and still life. In recent months, he has expanded his portfolio, including a collection inspired by Brazil that explores culture and portraiture.
To create the winning design, Vasconcelos began with colored pencil and watercolor before transferring the work to an iPad to digitize and refine the final image.
