When I originally got this concept, I was stumped. How the heck do I take an existing concept and put a hand drawn twist to it? My original concept was all about one thing. Expression. If these teeth people had such weird.. teeth bodies, I needed to make their faces count. How would they live together? How would they live alone? Thus, after a bit of exploration of old timey cartoons and even cartoons of recent day (as well as a bit of inspiration from those little M&M Characters..) I managed to create my first concept, shown above.
Great news! They liked the teeth people. However, they wanted to push forward, both style wise and anatomy wise. What if these teeth people in this teeth society had more defined arms? What about the introduction of legs? Hold the phone! What if they had clothes to show off different seasons, identities and cultures?
With the inspiration of trademarks like Adventure Time and Parappa The Rappa, I managed to create new concepts that did just that.
With the inspiration of trademarks like Adventure Time and Parappa The Rappa, I managed to create new concepts that did just that.
When I presented these, the client said he loved the direct contrast that the hand-drawn concept and the overall more corporate branding. He said that he loved the appeal of these, and how it could give children a better avenue to express themselves. He also mentioned the idea of having these characters live as sticker sheets that kids could use to create their very own teeth people, or even as buildable characters that could live within the app and or website as personal icons for children and their parents.
So with all of these laid out, I have learned a lot from this side-project. Working along-side a full-fledged team to create some fun artwork was a blast, and something I never truly did before. I got to really let my creative flags fly with this, and I appreciated every word of feedback from my very experienced colleagues. It was truly my first taste of belonging, and I would do it over if I could!
