Final

The brand I have chosen to design a mascot for is Dr Pepper, a soft drink produced in the United States. They pride themselves on having a completely unique flavour. In marketing campaigns throughout the years, Dr Pepper have repeatedly emphasised their one-of-a-kind taste. They also pride themselves on their age, being over 100 years old, which makes them older than Coca Cola. In response to this, the character I have come up with is an old scientist trying to synthesise the unique flavour of Dr Pepper. I have made him appear relatively young, taking inspiration from the hipster movement to combine young and old fashions and create broad appeal. I made a conscious effort to stay away from a mad scientist look, as I feel that would put people off. I have made his lab coat white so as to prevent him from clashing with the red on Dr Pepper cans.

Style Experimentation

I tried testing out the mascot using outlines from the pen tool, however I'm not completely satisfied with the result. I'll try again with more natural lines that aren't quite so clean and mechanical-looking.

Vector Mascot and Potential Poses

Further Further Sketches

Further Sketches

Some further sketches of mad scientists. Started out simply laying down a few ideas, and then played around with styles until I found one that I liked. Now it's a matter of coming up with an appropriate design.

Scientist Sketches

Some initial sketches of mad scientists to get an idea of the mood I'm going for.

Mad Scientists

I have decided to create a mad scientist mascot, a personification of Dr Pepper. He will most likely be depicted as the genius behind the unique flavour of Dr Pepper, being the only one capable of synthesising it.

Initial Sketches

Some initial sketches to get the juices flowing. I really like the dog and the genie!

Moodboard

After doing some visual research, I have come across the above images. Dr Pepper primarily makes use of the colours red, white and black, and they are focused on the idea of themselves being unique. I feel that this could be an interesting angle to play on.

Brand Analysis

Through my research, the brand values held by Dr Pepper that I have found are as follows:

• They pride themselves on having a truly unique flavour. Their current slogan is "Always One of a Kind."
• They are one of the main competitors of Coca-Cola in the United States. Coca-Cola have attempted to acquire them several times.
• They have a history of over 100 years, so there should be plenty to draw from..
• In 1963, singer Donna Loren became the national spokesperson for Dr Pepper, being labelled the "Dr Pepper Girl."
• Dr Pepper merged with Seven Up in the 80s, creating the new company DPSU (Dr Pepper/Seven Up).
• Dr Pepper does not ship its own bottles, instead, 30% of them are shipped by Coca-Cola, 30% are shipped by PepsiCo, and the remaining 40% are shipped by independent bottlers.
• Dr Pepper has never had a mascot, though for a brief period in the 50s a dog appeared on a number of advertisements. 
• In the early 1960s, Dr Pepper promoted serving thee drink hot with a slice of lemon.

Dr Pepper

Dr Pepper is a soft drink that has been around since 1885. It is the oldest major soft drink in the United States. It is often marketed as having a unique taste. In the words of former CEO of the Dr Pepper company, "it's not apple, it's not an orange, it's not a strawberry, it's not a root beer, it's not even a cola. It's a different kind of drink with a unique taste all its own."

Current Dr Pepper logo.

A selection of different types of Dr Pepper.

Final Portrait

My self-portrait depicts myself as The Dude, the slacker protagonist of the film The Big Lebowski. I have painted myself in the same position as The Dude in one of the films more iconic shots. This was done to reflect the laid-back description of myself that I outlined in my bio. I have neglected to include the characters trademark sunglasses, however, as their inclusion covers a good portion of my face and as such distances the likeness from myself. Aesthetically, I took cues from the late J.C. Leyendecker, as his style has a clear influence on many early comic artists. This reflects my heavy interest in comic books, which was also written in my bio. 

Progress

                                         

Final Lines

My final portrait will play on the idea that I am generally perceived as relaxed and laid back. In doing so I have recreated an iconic image from The Big Lebowski, as its protagonist, The Dude, is an iconic slacker.

Further Sketches

Sketches and Tonal Studies

Asaro Study

Leyendecker Study

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Form Studies

Borislav Mitkov

Borislav Mitkov is a Russian comics artist who makes heavy use of planes in his paintings. The planes are mostly made up of a single brushstroke, which helps to separate them from one another.

Alice X Zhang

Alice X. Zhang is another artist who imitates the traditional look in her digital paintings. She often uses dim lighting and almost always has busy backgrounds full of interesting brushstrokes.

Marumiyan

Marumiyan's style is very graphic, utilising strong black lines and high contrast. The simple background against the highly detailed figure works to great effect, and the detail in the foliage on the figure is astounding.