Borders' Marshmallow and Holly, Artist Interview - Character Design Blog and Happy Holidays!!!

Kei’s interview on Character Design Blog!!
Many thanks to Randall Sly for my interview on character design blog! Click on this link to see the interview.

Keeping with the Holiday theme, here are some more awesome photos of the Borders campaign from our friends Shawn Escott, Bill Presing and Ikumi, and Fabian from SF. Thanks so much again for the photos guys!









Many thanks to everyone who's been leaving comments and emailing us with your kindest thoughts about Marshmallow and Holly! We're very glad to hear such great responses.





And for those of you who inquired about Marshmallow and Holly prints, we've just added them onto our store along with several other new prints! View Prints Here


MERRY CHRISTMAS to all!
-Kei

the process-Borders Holly & Marshmallow

Hi guys!
Here are some of my drawings and sketches for the Border's campaign. The idea is about a sweet relationship between a toy polar bear cub and a fairy named Marshmallow and Holly. It's a story about friendship, inspiration and enchantment.



They needed Holly to be youthful and sweet, and less mature--so they chose the one on the far left. I also drew numerous variations of dresses for her--and the "holly" dress fitted best for their color palette and also matched her name :)



Originally Marshmallow wasn't supposed to be a toy, but the idea that he magically came to life, just like Pinocchio, made the concept even more holiday-ish.

Bringing Marshmallow to life was a lot of fun-- he is like this really adorable playful puppy, except he's a bear. I love how he just got chubbier by the end.





And here are some photos inside the Borders store courtesy of Michael Campbell and Shelly --Thanks so much guys!























It was one of the most fun projects I had the opportunity to work on (so far), and the people were great. They also made actual Marshmallow plush toys!...Yes, I have one :P

-Kei