The brainchild of Balgownie's Demelza Haines who, searching for softer-style clothing for her young son, decided to create her own range of clothing using organic cotton.

Though the characters are based on Haines' father's Welsh heritage, it was her animator husband, Adam Murphy, who breathed them to life, giving them form, shape and colour.

Murphy sketched the characters on the long commute between Wollongong and Sydney, where he works as an animator for Animal Logic at Fox Studios.

Navigating the turns and bumps, Murphy became an expert at moving his body with the train so as to keep mistakes to a minimum.

As each character came alive on his sketchpad, he would consult with Haines on his return home and then get ready to start the process over on the commute to Sydney early the next morning.

"I'm quite good at drawing on trains now," says Murphy.

"Once I get my sea legs, I can roll with the bumps. I'll think to myself, okay, there's a turn coming up, here we go."

He had thought that drawing on a train would attract some interest from fellow commuters, but it was not to be the case.

"In the beginning I thought it would be impressive to draw on a train and that I'd get a bit of attention. But no-one really cared. They were all too interested doing their own thing, reading the paper and zoning out," he says.

Welly's Wonders is named after the pair's 22-month-old son Llewellyn - whom they've nicknamed Welly.

"I was watching him one day and thought, where does he go in his head? What does a one-year-old imagine when he's zoned out?" says Haines.

"So that's how I came up with Welly's Wonders."

Haines created the characters in her head before finally committing them to paper.

There's the accidental hero Jenkins, a kind, sweet, loyal hare, whose character is based on Haines' father Anthony Haines. Morgan the Mischievous, a little bunny who is always up for some fun.

Burton the Brave, a fearless flying fox with a penchant for spectacular sky-high adventures, and his faithful sidekicks the Mumbles Twins. The Travelling Talbots are a show-business family with a famous vaudeville act. Then there's Great Uncle Tenby, the oldest and wisest of them all.

Haines has created the ingredients for an imaginary world from another era.

Many of the characters are named after towns or locations in South West Wales.

But Burton the suave, sophisticated fox gets his name from Hollywood actor Richard Burton, who as a child grew up in the house next door to Haines' father.

The families were close.

"Richard Burton's real surname was Jenkins, so I used that name for the main character," says Haines.

Jenkins the Hare, though, has a personality similar to her own father, while Burton the fox has taken on traits of the actor.

Story has it that when Burton would return to the village he would take all the younger children for spins around the countryside in his shiny red sports car.

The idea for a children's book came after the couple had designed the character clothing range in sizes newborn to size three.

"Having a boy I saw that there was a real lack of gentle, timeless, unisex clothing," explains Haines.

"Every time I went to a department store the clothing for boys had skulls or trucks on it, which is fine, but that's all there was. I saw a huge gap in the market. I thought why not give it a go. I thought maybe I'd sell a few items online.

In a year, the clothing line snowballed to 40 retailers around the country with interest now in overseas markets.

"The clothing went public in December last year and it was nuts, crazy. Everyone said you've got to do a book," says Haines.

Though early manufacture of the clothing was done in Australia, Haines has recently taken it offshore to China.

"It is still organic cotton and guaranteed sweatshop-free," says Haines.

"That was really important to me so I've done all the checks. I had wanted to keep it in Australia, but it became too hard with the volumes required. It's become too big."

The prints, cards and book are all still published in the Illawarra.

Jenkins, she says, was the first character to be developed and the one that people fall in love with first.

"He really touches people of all ages. He can evoke an emotional response, which was quite unexpected. People will tear up because it reminds them of their childhood," she says.

Welly's Wonders is about kindness, love, adventure and loyalty.

"I think what we're doing is universal. It's not a trend, it's totally unique and fresh, she says."

Haines has a background in theatre and stage management, and Murphy began work as an animator for Disney at the age of 15.

He has also worked as a lead animator and artist for Disney and Lucasfilm in Singapore, where he worked on some of the world's biggest film franchises.

"I did everything with a two in it. The Lion King II, The Little Mermaid II, Bambi II," he says.

In Singapore he was working on a special project for George Lucas, an animated feature film that has not yet been released and so is still top secret.

During their time in Singapore, Lucas decided to sell that arm of the business to Disney, with the new owner retaining all staff.

He then also generously gave staff bonuses from the sale.

As Welly was just about to be born in a Singapore Hospital, the bonus paid for his medical expenses.

"It turns out that George Lucas not only looks like Santa, he is Santa. He gave all the staff these amazing bonuses just before Christmas. He took care of everyone," Murphy says.

Last week, the self-published book Jenkins The Hare was launched in a Balgownie cafe.

The story follows Jenkins into the forest, where he searches for his beloved and lost red scarf.

"I have another three books mapped out in my head already," says Haines.

"Each one will centre on a different character and next year we plan to introduce some new characters."

When they returned to Australia with Welly, they realised they couldn't afford to buy property in Sydney and moved to Wollongong, where Murphy already had a rental apartment.

"We decided to stay because it's so beautiful here," says Haines.

"We love it. We love the community feeling."

Now working at Animal Logic at Fox Studios, Murphy's time is spent drawing storyboards for the new Lego Movie.

He had previously worked on the storyboard and animation for the Australian-produced animated feature film Legend Of The Guardians.

"It's a great place to work," says Murphy.

"They did the first Lego Movie and it went gangbusters. It was massive. So to work on the next one is great. They've really stuck to the Lego Laws and it's like tapping into people's childhood memories. It's really appealing and sweet the way the characters move."

Like Lego, Welly's Wonders taps into memories of a simpler time when childhood was full of wonder and imagination. There are hopes of one day developing the concept into a film or television series.

"Being adults sometimes really sucks," says Haines.

"I don't think there's enough wonder in the world, everything's a bit too cool. I think it would be good if kids could keep their imagination and amazement for as long as possible. For me, it will be a sad day when Welly can no longer squeeze into his onesie."

See more at wellyswonders.com.au.