Scientist Character Design - Empiribox Logo and Illustrated Cartoon Scientist

Mad Scientist - character design

If I asked you to picture a cartoon scientist you would undoubtedly imagine the white coat, big glasses/goggles and some crazy hair of some kind. Add in some bubbling, smoky liquid in a test tube and you've got your typical scientist (mad scientist) character.

This is exactly what the client needed, so who am I to argue with tradition?! I did create a choice of other scientist sketches following the similar theme, and a favourite was chosen and vectored up to final artwork. Let me know what you think or if you'd have preferred a different scientist from my sketches.

Empiribox Logo - design, animate and icon amends

Following the scientist character design, I also helped work on the company logo a little by developing the icons used amongst the text. As you can see the logo incorporates a rocket ship, a test tube and a bug. I designed a few variations of each icon and tried several colour schemes.

We also tried to get a bit of extra fun into the logo and decided to have a little play with animating the logo for the website. You can see the simple animated logo below.

If you have any thoughts, comments, suggestions or questions then please feel free to comment below or contact me in whatever way is best for you. Enjoy :)

Caveboy - Caveman Character Design and Illustration

A client needed a caveman, or to be more specific a caveboy character created. The character needed to appeal to kids and was to be used for learning and informational purposes in an environment that specifically deals with heritage and historical education.

Things to consider were that the character looked fun and friendly but not too cartoony. Also needed to be considered was that the character could have the potential to be dressed in different period costume to show the same boy in different outfits and therefore periods of time.

You can see my first stage of sketches, and following feedback from the client the final vector artwork for the caveboy is shown with and without a background. Any feedback is appreciated as always. Cheers and enjoy!

Leicester Tigers - Welford character design - He's Grrreat!

If any of you good people are Leicester Tigers fans you might recognise this grrreat guy. It's Welford the official mascot for Leicester Tigers - the English rugby union team based in Leicester (obviously).

I've been illustrating the Tigers Family (#Tigersfamily) cartoon strip for the past two seasons, and you can see every single cartoon strip as well as sketches and even video on their very own blog.

This project however is all about Welford. Welford has been the offical Leicester Tigers mascot for some time now, but until recently he has only been seen in his physical form. He can usaully be seen on the pitch and in and around the Welford Road ground, meeting the fans and interacting with the kids. Now however he is also famous in his 2D, fully illustrated version!

He appears in many forms of promotional and marketing material both online and in print. You can see him in several places around the ground, on matchday promotional and fun (JTC - Junior Tigers Club) items and across the Tigers external marketing range.

Below you can see Welford in his claws out 'Thriller' pose :) You can also see him in several other classic poses as well as some early sketches of Welford before he was created in his final glorious full colour vector version.

Let me know if you're a fan of Welford and be sure to take a pic and send it to me if you see him around. Feel free to leave some comments below, but please keep them clean if you're not a Tigers fan ;) Cheers and enjoy!

If you'd like to see more of my character creations then click here and give your eyes a treat :)

West Lodge Rural Centre cartoons and illustrations

I've been creating artwork for West Lodge Rural Centre for quite a while now. West Lodge is a great farm park for all the family, based in Northamptonshire. Working in partnership with PJD, we've created a whole range of characters that appear all over the company website and various promotional literature. The illustrations also appear on signage, helping visitors navigate their way around the farm park.

The latest characters are needed to promote the rabbit enclosure. You can see the final artwork below and the early sketches I created for the illustration. I've also created a gallery showing all the characters I've created over the years and you can see it here. If you get a chance to go then it's worth a visit, the kids love it there! Cheers and enjoy! 

Check out my new sketches portfolio page

I've added a new sketches page to the 'portfolio' section of my website. It doesn't matter what you're designing, usually the first stages of any project are the initial sketches. It matters not whether they are doodles or scribbles or even how good they are, it's always good to let your brain run free and let the ideas flow.

Personally I start all my projects with a good old fashion pencil and paper. I love the freedom and feel of a sharp 2B on some crisp white sheets! You'll find some random examples of my sketches and early stages of designs. Many ideas never actually make it to a final piece of finished artwork so it's a shame to keep them hidden away.

Here they are in all their glory, rough around the edges but also containing that all important 'spark' of an idea. Enjoy!

Sketchalicious and time-lapsetastic!

I'm currently working on a project for a client to create some new characters. I thought it would be interesting to film the entire process right from sketches through to the final vector artwork. It's still very early days in the project but here is a sneaky look at the very first stage of design showing some quick sketches.

Sketching Time Lapse, Illustration, Character Design 01 - Ant Creations TV from Ant Creations on Vimeo.

As usual I would love to know what you think. I also created the music in GarageBand (my first attempt), so hope you like it and it's not too annoying! Check out my other videos if you get a chance and I will add the next stages of design as I complete them. Enjoy!

Warning Zone - New Frog characters created!

I have recently created a couple of new frog character designs on behalf of Warning Zone who are based on Frog Island in Leicester. A detective type frog was needed and also a version of the original frog (see this post for details) for use on a Christmas invitation.

I created a couple of sketches for the detective and then several slight variations during the vector stage of artwork. The frog above is the final version and the images below show the sketches and the vector varieties.

Below is the final version of the frog in a Christmas scene looking festive and jolly!

Let me know what you think and please feel free to  get in touch if you would like to discuss any artwork you may need creating. Call me on 01858 462779 or email me at nathan@antcreations.co.uk

Warning Zone - Their Frog on my Blog

Warning Zone are a company based on Frog Island in Leicester. Due to the great name of their location it was decided to promote the business by using a frog character as a bit of a company mascot. The frog will be used in numerous places but especially on the website and in particular the blog which is aptly named 'The blog on the Frog'. A brand new happy frog character was therefore required to fulfill his promotional duties.
The frog needed to be a typical green frog that can be found anywhere in the UK. He needed to convey a positive persona without being too silly but also not too serious. A fun frog but not necessarily a funny frog. The initial design is of the frog sitting on a rock or a very small island (a frog island)! At a later date the character will also be developed further to incorporate different poses and props.  Here is the final full coloured result for the initial frog pose...

If you're interested to see how the character developed then please read on! As I mentioned earlier the frog will be in different poses in the future therefore the initial sketches are of a frog both standing and sitting. I created several sketches for the first stage and then some additional sketches following the feedback from the client.

One of the frog's were chosen as the favourite. With only a few minor changes needed I went straight to vector artwork and created the amendments on screen before sending the next stage to the client, a version of the character in black and white and also a version using a few flat colours.

Some minor changes were required after this stage, mainly the shape of the rock the frog was sitting on. It was a little too uniform and needed to be more irregular and rock like. Apart from the rock all that was left to do was to add the minor details such as skin patterns, highlights and obviously the correct colour schemes.

The final result (appearing higher in this post) can soon be seen on the Warning Zone website.

If you would like to know more details or discuss anything else including any projects where you may need a character designed then please call 01858 462779 or email nathan@antcreations.co.uk

Red Rabbit Rooter Character Design

I thought I would change things a little on this blog, and hopefully add some extra interesting content. In the past I have only put an image of the final artwork on my blog. But from now on I am going to add the earlier stages of a project too.

These extra bits of artwork could be sketches and vector development work, as well as various colour choices, shading and highlights and the adding of little details etc.
I'm hoping these extra bits of info will help paint a clear picture of how a project develops from the initial idea right through the various stages of design until the final vector artwork is created.
This first project is a character design for Red Rabbit Rooter, which is a drainage/sewer company from Pennsylvania in the USA.

Brief : A character needed to be created based on the Red Rabbit theme. He needed to be a positive happy face for the company and show quickness and speed, he also needed to be carrying a plunger to symbolise the sewer business.

Initial Sketches :

Stage Two : Rabbit number 02 was chosen for development. It was decided to change the clothes worn by the rabbit to include longer trousers and a shirt.

Stage Three - Vectors : Next stage was to create the vector artwork. As you can see there is a major difference between the sketches and the vector artwork. Everything suddenly looks a lot more polished. I find it easier to judge a character with a little bit of colour whilst also seeing a black and white version, hence I usually send my inital colour ideas as well as a B&W version of the character.

Stage Four - Colour and Details : With feedback from the client it was then possible to develop the colours whilst adding all the little details that bring the character to life.

Final Character Design : With the shading and highlights added as well as all the little details such as his name badge and cap motif the character is now finished. All these little details really help bring the character to life and give him the personality he needs to appeal to his audience!

Here is the final character as he will appear in all his marketing and promotional duties. I am really pleased with the final outcome as was the client Jenna Peppler. I hope he does his job and helps to promote the company long into the future!

I introduce you to 'Red' the face of Red Rabbit Rooter...

Please feel free to let me know what you think. If you need anything from me (Nathan Shelton) then please feel free to get in touch and I will be very happy to hear from you. Cheers!

Email nathan@antcreations.co.uk or call on 01858 462779