Philadelphia Flyers Official Mascot Design - Gritty

Wondering who designed the new Philadelphia Flyers official Mascot? Why, it’s me, Brian Allen at FlyLand Designs! I was hired by the Philadelphia Flyers to conceptualize, illustrate, and design their new monster mascot.
We began by sketching out over twenty different concepts, from Bulls to bats, flying barons, monsters, and dragons. We decided on a big fluffy, friendly monster named Gritty. I then fine-tuned the sketch of Gritty over several iterations using Clip Studio Paint and a Wacom Cintiq - we experimented with adding wings to the mascot of all different types, and even a tail. Working digitally really helped speed things up and quickly experiment with different body parts and expressions.
The front, back, and side turn-around illustration was then sent to Character Translations Inc., who used my drawings to create the costume in real life. It was such an amazing and humbling experience to see my creating come to life!