Evolution of a Digital Sherpa

Creating a character suitable for branding, takes careful planning and experimenting. It's important to give enough time to the project so the creative process can flow organically. Simply creating a cute character and slapping a logo on it will not be sufficient.

The purpose of the Digital Sherpa was to create a character mainly for web purposes. Knowing that the character would probably be used at very small sizes, I had to create a design both simple and iconic. Originally I sketched the sherpa a bit older and not standing as straight, and had him holding a cane. After vectorizing the pencil sketch it became clear that the mascot was not very welcoming or friendly. I had also decided not to create the various gadgets in his box, since I thought it would be to complex to reduce to smaller sizes. After reconsidering the character's design, I went ahead and created the various gadgets in his box. It wasn't very obvious why he was carrying a box without the gadgets, as I orginally thought to replace a sherpa's pack with a computer box. I had also thought that simply adding a computer image to the side of the box would be enough, but this didn't fully encompass the purpose of the digital sherpa. In addition his stance was modified to be stronger and more confident; also his cane was replaced with a flag which also added another branding possibility.

After I had arrived at a design that I was satisfied with, I went ahead and designed his environment. I decided to create a fun mountain peak image, and also a yetti character to give the background more interest. The environment was important to give the character another dimension,and make it more engaing. It's important to give a character a backstory that you can use to flesh out their appearance and adding more elements for them to interact with gives the viewer a richer experience.

If you would like to contact me about a character design project you can send me an email throught the contact page, or send me an email at: davegonzales07@gmail.com