Cranimals
Designing Charlie

Cranimals Header Image Cranimals Header Image

The Client

Cranimals is an American dogfood distributor that specializes in healthy, vegan dog treats.

The Challenge

I was contacted by Cranimals to come up with a new character, codename “Charlie” and package design for new line of “Zendog” dog treats.

My Role

  • Character Design
  • Logo Design
  • Package Design

My Tools

  • Hand Drawing
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Adobe Illustrator
Cranimals Sketch 01
Cranimals Sketch 02
Cranimals Sketch 03
Cranimals Sketch 04

Initial Sketches

We agreed on the concept of something that mixed cute doggy character packaging we often see in the aisles with something a little serene and worthy of the ZenDog title.

Cranimal Final Pencil Sketch

Finalizing Pencils

We decided on which parts of the sketches were what they wanted in their final character design and folded them together into a final sketch.

Cranimal Final Artwork

Coloring & Completing

Upon approval, I went to work on vectoring and coloring the art in Adobe Illustrator. It was a bit of a challenge coming up with colors, but I decided to use the big pumpkin Charlie was now sitting on as inspiration!

I was able to play off the oranges not only to design Charlie (with browns that have tints of orange), but also to design the whole package.

Cranimals Dogfood Packaging
Cranimals Banner with Staff on Display

Pack it in a Doggy Bag

Upon final approval, the packaging was set up and printed. The results were great, with Cranimals winning a Pet Product New Editor’s Choice Award, even cheekily adding that the ‘animated’ cover model Charlie was a big part of their success.

This was a fun team to work with. It also allowed me to use my illustration along with my graphic design skills to come up with a fun concept that had great results. A win for everyone, especially vegan dogs!