What does Lucy Izzard have in common with a Black Bear?

Oct 20 2011

Seven months ago Lucy Izzard was commissioned by Host Sydney to conceive three characters for the launch of Coca Cola’s new Quencher brand. Now the three characters are playing in cinemas, on TV, packaging, Adshells and online all over Australia.

The three characters were representative of three different fruit flavours. The Quencher characters needed to represent a different kind of health and wellbeing to the flood of energy, health and nutritionally focussed fruit flavoured drinks on their market. These characters were to introduce the Quencher range to people as quirky, fun, laid back, loving life and always beaming a charming smile. We summed up these five adjectives in two words, Lucy Izzard.

Lucy was in her element creating these characters. As you scroll through the illustrations below you can appreciate the state of play she was in. Lucy was doing what she does best. Energetic line drawings that overflow with personality and defy the stereotype that illustrations are a static form of expression.

Lucy’s gift for breathing life into her drawings provokes a person to imagine what happens before and after the moment she has drawn. It’s a gift that instills her artwork with real charm and verve.

What thrilled Lucy the most was being chosen to take her character designs and animate them for online and TV. Lucy’s animations have been broadcast on the BBC, she has worked with Nick Park’s team at Aardman Animations and is regularly on tour with some involvement in the animation festival circuit.

Sydney studio Heckler were a joy to work with and created the dynamic liquid environment in which Lucy’s characters enjoy playing so much. It is a rare opportunity in the animation industry to single handedly design and then animate your own characters and Lucy didn’t take a pinch for granted. She played with her characters all day and all night until they were ready to step into the world. The benefit of Lucy nurturing her creations all the way to the end is that they never lost Lucy’s spirit which is why they deliver so much personality for the brand.

When the individual artist is this well aligned to the personality our client wants to communicate the final affect on the audience is impossible to replicate.

Below the initial sketches we’ve also added the final 30 second TVC and cinema animations for you to enjoy as well the adshell and packaging illustrations.

Click here or any image below to see Lucy’s full portfolio.