Cartoon mascot design ... Alive and well for all the right reasons.
Getting a cartoon mascot is an additional expense for any organization. So why even bother with it … I mean, is it worth the time and money getting your own cartoon mascot? Well it’ll come as no surprised that we tend to vouch for cartoon mascots all the way but we’ll try to put our bias aside and make the case as fairly as possible.
Stickiness
Cartoon mascots are super sticky. You’ve only got to see one a couple of times and they will stick in your brain. That’s the main reason why businesses, bloggers and non-profits alike use cartoon mascots in the first place. They make you look twice and they make you remember and associate the organization with the mascot. All of which equals “cha-ching”.
Could you name fifty famous cartoon characters off the top of your head? I didn’t think I could … until I got started. I’d wager if you are over 30 years old, you would recognize and know every single one of these characters. For real, every single one. In writing this post I came to realize the sheer volume of cartoon characters that have permanently infiltrated my brain. Famous cartoon characters and mascots seem to have one thing in common: they are incredibly sticky. Like it or not, they invade your head space, and never leave.
If you are like me, some of these characters you grew up with as a kid, others you will have gotten to know and love as an adult. The one’s that made it on this list did so because of their enduring greatness to last beyond mere fad and pull up a permanent place both in popular culture and in our minds. In no particular order, let’s get this started! And naturally, all characters are copyright of their respective owners. Don’t steal them m’kay?
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Mickey Mouse
Joyful, vulnerable, lovable. Mickey came into our hearts and minds decades ago and still reigns supreme. He’s like the Jesus of cartoon characters.Read the rest of this entry »
According to a recent press release, one of the world’s most recognizable female cartoon characters is about to set a first, so some will have us believe. Marge Simpson, wife and mother of America’s favorite dysfunctional family is going to pose for the November issue of Playboy magazine.
Marge is being reported as “the first cartoon character ever” to be featured on the cover of Playboy. This is well hyped and not surprisingly the reaction to this event has been varied and heated, but is it accurate?
Not really. According to a flood of responses, it seems Leroy Neiman’s “Femlin” cartoon character was the first cartoon character to be featured (in August 1960) and was subsequently featured many times. Some say that a Playmate dressed as Jessica Rabbit took the honor in their November 1988 issue … we argue that’s not really a cartoon character so much as someone dressed up as a cartoon character.
What do you think … should Marge be doing business with Playboy?
Graham Mulvein at Cochlear UK got in touch with us wanting a new character to help communicate what can be somewhat dry information about their technology. For those of you who are unaware, Cochlear makes incredible ear implants that, well … here’s what wikipedia as to say about the cochlear implant:
A cochlear implant (CI) is a surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing. The cochlear implant is often referred to as a bionic ear. Unlike hearing aids, the cochlear implant does not amplify sound, but works by directly stimulating any functioning auditory nerves inside the cochlea with an electric field.
Pretty cool right!? This technology is giving hearing to millions of people and it was up to our artists to create a new mascot for Cochlear that was fun, kept the spirit of the Cochlear branding and their mission. In the end Grahame and his team settled on this little fella. Check him out!
We were contacted by Mathew Ogston at FollowThing.com in order to create a cartoon character to use as a mascot for their upcoming project. This character was an interesting challenge due to the inherent traits which Mathew wanted embodied in his … Thing!
Cartoon Lemming Character
Part of the Character Plan (or creative brief) included:
“Character is a Lemming, which represents our new product called ‘FollowThing’. The reason for using a lemming is that our online service allows people to follow almost anything on the web (blogs, news, videos, memes, audio, brand monitoring etc) and therefore keep abreast of the latest trends and breaking news. Lemmings are famously known for following things. This concept of ‘following’ needs to be visible within this mascot.”
It didn’t take too long until our artists were onto a character mascot that Mathew liked. We ended up tweaking back and forth until the final look of this cartoon mascot was achieved.
It was great working with Mathew and we wish him well with his Follow Thing start up!
Foxes can run the whole spectrum of emotions; from aggressive to adorable. This cartoon fox is one we created to be friendly and approachable. We think the end result is an very cool character that looks like he would be fun to hang with … and maybe even learn something from!
Cartoon Fox Character
Well we are happy to announce that our new site here at Fast Characters is live to the world and ready to serve with world class character design and illustration. We ask that if you spot any broken links and other wierd stuff to please contact us so we can fix any bugs. OK, back to work and keep you posted!
Cartoon monkeys are a favorite around here. Actually we’re pretty fond of any kind of cartoon animal character. This cartoon money character is one we created for a video game website. The customer wanted a simpler look for this monkey so we ended up toning down the amount of details both in character sketch and the way the character was colored. In the end, he’s cartoon monkey character with an easy and approachable feel. Client loved it (of course!).
Cartoon Money Character
Got a thing for cartoon robots? Me too! Some of my favorites are the Japanese made, world famous Astroboy and the Iron Giant. This robot cartoon character is one that needed an aggresive and confident look without being too threatening or dark. The result is an assertive cartoon robot who looks like he’s ready to take on anything. You can also see some of the other robot concept sketches that we part of the design process.
Robot Cartoon Character
Cartoon dog characters are a favorite subject for a couple of artists on our team. And when you’re a dog owner you can appreciate a well designed dog character. This dog cartoon needed a gentle and approachable look and feel yet still have a strong enough presence to be engaging. Here you can also see a couple of the concept sketches that we’re up for consideration when designing this dog character. In the end, he turned out great and will serve his clients well for years to come.
Cartoon Dog Character
