The Life of Orson
graphite on paperclick on thumbnail to view larger image
graphite on paperclick on thumbnail to view larger image
The next few posts will be dedicated to the poster I'm currently working on for a non profit charity fundraiser, in support of "The Montreal Children's Hospital Foundation. It's a worthy cause which will help out many of the kids who are in need, especially at a scary time in their young lives. Hopefully the work that the fund raising organization is doing will help ease their time spent in the hospital, as well as their recovery outside of it.
The images I've posted are the character design sketches for a mascot, created for the organization's upcoming event. I pretty much had free reign for this project concerning the subject matter. The briefing I was given was that the event will be themed as a "mini Mardi Gras" for children...in February. My first question was "Isn't Mardi Gras a mature theme?". Apparently it dates back to Ancient Rome as "Lupercalia", which I won't be getting into. So with the knowledge that Mardi Gras was not all dirty, I was ready to work on the poster. Inspired by the upcoming 2010 Olympics mascots as well as my nephew, I made my first sketches while on break in a "Texture & Shading course" at work. Yes, they made us do algebra...
My goal was to keep the shapes simple, playful and cartoony to appeal to children and their moms. I didn't want to play too much on the Mardi Gras aspect, because of the discordant color schemes related to the traditional costumes worn during the festival. I felt that it wouldn't appeal to the toddler age group, and wanted to keep a bright cartoon look. I wanted to avoid puting a mask on the character, because I wanted children and parents to relate to Orson (that's his name). I felt that since it would be a character that they've never seen before, it would be harder to get that connection if the face was obstructed. What I finally decided to do was to play up the fact that the event would take place in February. Thought of a few poses which would show character and playfulness, I came up with the idea of having Orson trying to catch snowflakes with his tongue. And it went from there.
For more information on the "mini Mardi Gras" charity event please visit:
www.minimardigras.ca
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