Hank the Hawk Mascot

THE BRIEF:

Every student in my class was assigned an animal and asked to create a Team Mascot - I was given a HAWK.

I found reference photos - strong face, long legs.

ROUGH DRAFT1: Working with the animal that you were assigned and using the techniques shown in class today, begin developing your mascot design.

· Begin by placing an embedding your photographic references into your Illustrator file.

· Start by defining the basic shapes of the form with simple curves and arcs. Be sure to limit yourself to only the 3 types of curves discussed: single tangent curves, parabolic curves, and S curves.

· sing the previously established curves as a reference, begin making larger shapes that follow those forms, but add more details.

· Remove all the strokes from this layer and fill the shapes with black.

I started by tracing the lines of the face, then started filling them in with solid shapes, but only on half of the face; I will later make a reflected copy of my work and create one solid face. Once I'd gotten some pretty good shapes going, I started to soften and shape my hawk.

ROUGH DRAFT 2: Redraw your mascot using the previous lines as a guide. Improve on the general forms, smooth out curves, find new or improved relationships, merge some shapes, and overall improve the design.

Once I came up with a general design I started to create the body and work on the form. Once I found a shape & size I liked I continued to simplify.

ROUGH 3 and as many more refinements as you need to get a solid design.

· Add color to your design. Do not try to be natural with your coloring, instead be expressive.

· Think of using a limited number of values; a dark, a middle, and a light, along with white highlights and maybe some complimentary color to add some contrast.

Once I settled on a design I liked, I started adding color. I choose a gold/yellow color to bring in some of the natural tones I saw in the original photo.

Continue to refine your design and colors to keep improving the mascot, but now also work in the name of the team.

Next I started working on the team name - that's when I pulled in the color purple. I wanted the colors be more feminine, but didn't like the look of the pink. And after receiving critique and feedback from my instructor and peers, I further simplified my design, but wanted to keep the feet! I also started to build my shadows and highlights using different tones of purple.