This particular illustration was completed for the annual "Be a Bear" t-shirt campaign at Missouri State University in 2024. Graphic design students were tasked with creating a fun typographic or illustration-based t-shirt to be sold at our university bookstore that portrayed the theme of "being a bear" at MSU, or joining the Missouri State family.
My goal for this illustration was to create a simple but playful depiction of a bear or group of bears with different looks or personalities about them, creating a silly, inviting mood for the shirt.
Limits on the project included a maximum of three spot colors used in the final composition.
PROCESS
1ST SKETCH
2ND SKETCH
My earliest iteration, shown on the left, explored a sketchy, simple illustrative style with only one bear as the subject and a minimalistic color palette.
After receiving feedback, I combined my bears into a group of three to really emphasize the "togetherness" and community aspect of being a Missouri State bear.
This was my final cleaned up artwork before adding spot colors in the final version above! My main revisions included refining the star elements and smoothing out the line work.
