Posing Reference

I created a cut out of my teza leaf character and experimented with a bunch of different poses. This way, I have reference when mocking up my mascot with how she'll move and stand.

Developed Mascot Poses

These are the poses I have initially put together for my mascot. I tried to get a range of poses that showcase the flexibility of her form, and the ways she would move around if animated.

hero pose

riding teza car

falling downward

bathing in iced tea

looking up curiously

noticing friends

Playing with cars

It took me a while to find a suitable car for the teza leaf to ride. I wanted it to be as simple as a toy car, but complex enough to reflect the actual teza grass cars. These were the finalists-

Reference/ Mood Board

A moodboard I put together to use as reference for all my character poses.

Character Development - Colour

Trialing various colours for the Teza leaf based off their existing flavors and packaging colours.

Going Vector

I moved onto Illustrator, and created my latest Teza sketches into a vector. I re-sized and changed a few of his features around, in particular her face looked strange at its originally sketched size, so I made it smaller. I also added eyelashes to distinguish that the Teza leaf is a girl.

Experimenting with Props

Experimented with fun props for the Teza leaf to interact with, such as the Teza car, a cup of ice tea, tea seeds, etc.

Character Development

Silhouette - Veins

I decided to explore different approaches I could take with veins, and using them to imply hands, face shape, clothes, etc.

Faces

Experimented with various face types to see which would best suit the Teza leaf.

Character Development - Silhouettes

Character Development

Decided to revert back to keeping the character just as the leaf, as his silhouette was too cmplet with the tea plant on his head. Now focusing on continuing flow through his limbs, and thinking about how he would move if animated.

Character Development - Expressions

Experimented with expressions and various moods of the leaf.

Character Development

Developed the most successful characterized leaves, and work on trying to make it come alive, thinking about how it would sit in a 3 dimensional space and its overall form.

Adding Character

I decided to experiment with adding character to the still object of a leaf, by drawing different faces on and playing with their movements.

More about Tea!

Process of creation

Tea Plant

Tea Leaves

Tea Infusing

Leaves

I decided to look further into leaves, as they currently exist on Tezas bottle packaging. I gathered a bunch of different shaped leaves, and experimented with their silhouettes and form. Overall, aiming to give character to an inanimate object.

Character Development & Props

Experimented with more seed characters. In particular, trying new silhouettes reflective of tea seeds. I also looked at potentially having a miniature version of their infamous grass cars or a cup of ice tea as a prop for the mascot to interact with.

Character Development

Silhouette Studies

I completed a number of silhouette studies, to help give the mascot a distinguishing form. I focused mostly on simple circle and triangle based forms, as I feel they'd best represent the Teza brand best based on their existing brand design.