The Adventures of Pip & Puddle
Texas A&M University Capstone project, Spring 2024.
Thank you to Barbara Klein & Lauren Enriquez for their guidance.
When used in character design and storytelling, color psychology will add emotional depth to the dialogue and characters. Color Psychology refers to the biological, emotional, and cultural associations of color. For example, red is biologically a symbol of irritation, aggression, & danger. However, it can also psychologically incite feelings of hunger, passion, or love. When applied to the character development and comic drawing process, color psychology can greatly enhance emotional and personal depth. This experimentation of color psychology has been executed through a 36-page comic book narrating the everyday lives of two characters who like to explore & adventure.
Pip and Puddle are best friends who enjoy spending time at home or adventuring in the forest. Pip is a leaf who acts before he thinks and will go to the ends of the earth for the people he cares about. Puddle is a patch of moss. Cool as a cucumber, he helps center Pip’s impulsive nature and balances the duo.
I created Pip and Puddle to explore how color theory enhances the emotions of a dialogue. This colorful comic book explores the connection between emotion and color and experiments with collage to emphasize the whimsical nature of their world.
Process Video
PROCESS STEPS
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
I wanted the two main characters to be forest creatures that looked very different. I went with the one-tall, one-short character trope and used that to craft their looks & personalities.
STORY WRITING & DRAWING
To start the comic process, I wrote 14 scripts of varying lengths. For the dialogue and plots, I referenced Frog & Toad and Calvin & Hobbes. Once I was happy with those, I began experimenting with drawing in comic format.
I created some side characters to add intrigue to the story and explore color psychology in other characters.
I used purple for the two main side characters, Clarence (rabbit) and Archibald (bat). Purple signifies mystery and magic, two qualities very present in both characters. Clarence is light purple, because of the magic hidden within his music. Archibald, however, is several shades of purple to reflect his mysterious and unpredictable character.
For the main characters, Pip and Puddle, I wanted to mainly use green because one they’re both elements of a forest (leaf, moss), and two because of the psychology behind green.
Green can signify growth or new experiences, which is something I wanted the main characters to be based on. The whole premise of the comic is these two going on adventures, so green was a good color for that. Pip is a brighter green reflecting his wilder personality, whereas Puddle is a darker muted green due to his calming nature. I also added a pop of red for Pip to signify his spunkiness and daring.
I then drew a second round of the comics, refining the stories and layouts, and increasing the page count from 20 to 30 pages.
When drawing in comic format, I found it’s best to repeat an angle or surroundings for several boxes in a sketch. This makes the drawing process quicker and easier, also providing a more visually cohesive comic.
I also learned that when I’m beginning to write scripts it’s easiest to have inspiration from an illustration. I came up with the idea for the newer characters from random paintings I found on Pinterest, and from those characters, I thought of plots.
Color & Collage
While drawing, I began to experiment with over exaggerating the art and going pass the bounds of the comic grid. I think it helps add to the storytelling and makes it more unique.
While the collage elements are more of a stylistic choice than a research based choice, they still add an element of uniqueness and whimsicality. Combining Photography with comic style sketching creates the mysticality of their world.
I used a soft pastel brush in Procreate to fill in the color of the comics. In this process, I referenced my color psychology research in the backgrounds and borders of the comics.
Examples:
FINAL SNEAK PEEKS
