Wondering who designed the new Philadelphia Flyers official Mascot? Why, it’s Brian Allen at FlyLand Designs! He was hired by the Philadelphia Flyers to conceptualize, illustrate, and design their new monster mascot. They began by sketching out over twenty different concepts, from Bulls to bats, flying barons, monsters, and dragons. They then decided on a big fluffy, friendly monster named Gritty. Brian fine-tuned the sketch of Gritty over several iterations using Clip Studio Paint and a Wacom Cintiq - and 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 Brian's drawings to create the costume in real life. Brian mentions having an amazing and humbling experience to see his creation come to life! A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to leave his mark on the NHL. It will be interesting to see how the mascot is received among fans - the Flyers were one of the last teams to get a mascot, and some of the fans have resisted. Brian hopes that they like it, or he may never be able to show his face in Philadelphia again! The team was great to work with, and even sent him and his family to a game to meet Gritty in person!

www.flylanddesigns.com