Character Development
Five whimsical characters for Boot Beer Core Range
I was commissioned to design 7 beer labels for Boot Beer's core range. The brewery is located in Repton, an English village with a rich Viking heritage. My previous designs for the brewery included Ivar the Bootless, a fictional viking warrior. For this project I've decided to extend this idea, but modernise the character, give him some friends and a bit of narrative. Below you can see step by step process of how the characters came to life in my sketchbook:
The three main characters are Ivar, Freya and Bob. Ivar is a stoic modern viking, bearded and tattooed lumberjack, whose face expression remains unchanged no matter what. He loves to drink beer and is equipped with a red bulbous nose to prove it.
Ivar's girlfriend Freya is totally opposite of him - loopy and full of life and emotion. Her Celtic heritage is hinted by her signature fiery storm hair. Freya loves 60s dresses, lollypops and her dog Loki, the berserker Chihuahua, who by night shapeshifts into Beast.
Bob, or Odd Bob, is Ivar's best friend. Bob and Ivar spend loads of time together, but don't talk much. Bob is an oddball who loves weird contraptions, which he also constructs himself, like the beer hard hat. Bob loves his beer hat. Bob never leaves home without sun glasses and his pet pig.
The brewery fell in love with Bob's pig instantly and decided to rename one of the beers, initially called Patriot, to Flying Pig.
Loki (the berserker Chihuahua) was inspired by my neighbour's ferocious little dog, which attacks everything and everybody in sight.
Bob's character was created specifically for the Clodhopper Golden Ale label. Clodhopper means a large, heavy shoe or a foolish, clumsy person. Bob's both.
