Blog of WAR

This is the Lemon Bee Festival Flyer for 2010. I really enjoy creating the characters for this event, since this is my hometown and many dear friends take part in making this event happen every year. The event is located in Olde Town Conyers in Georgia, it takes place to provide a space for the local musicians and artists to show their stuff and mingle with others in the area.

I chose to showcase this piece because I think this is a prime example of character design. I have created new characters for this event for almost every year it has taken place, but this year I think the character is oozing with life and energy. Though, I am not downing my past attempts at nailing the intangible character of the Lemon Bee Festival, I think this one is just the best out of each of the previous examples.

This year I attempted to start from scratch and I researched the process of character design thoroughly, which is my usual process. I created numerous rough sketches in a rainbow of styles. Though, one of the last ideas I squeezed  from my head was this fine example of a lemon bee.

In my head I created this storyline for the Lemon Bee, his creation from two separate beings the honey bee and the lemon tree. Combining both aspects of each being, the honey bee’s determination and collective nature and the lemons sour taste, intwining into a being of sweet honey, hard work, sour taste, and a love for art and music. I envisioned the mister Lemon B as a being that was shunned from his colony becuase of his difference from the rest of the pack, but his indifference made him see the world in a different manner. His outcasting made him find a love for creating art and music for his colony to enjoy, while the rest of the colony was working he was creating art in all forms for all to enjoy. Though at first the colony wanted nothing to do with this abomonation to their species, after showing them the joys of art and music the colony finally realized that maybe some of their time could be used for enjoyment, instead of working hard without anytime to enjoy life and all it’s bounties.

I think this storyline and slow process of creating a living character within my own head helped to shape the tangible creation I sketched and then refined in Adobe Illustrator. This character embodies all that Lemon Bee is suppose to be about, art and music, enjoyement of life, getting together with the local colony, and much more.

Overall, I just wanted to let everyone in on the process of creating a character and my love for the act of creation in general. This year I think The Lemon Bee Fest is going to be the best yet, I enjoy watching it slowly bloom into what it is today and I am proud of our community for helping to make this beautiful gathering possible.