Cartoon Character Design on a Budget: Mission Possible!

These days, companies fight over people’s attention more than ever. No matter if you are a startup, or you have been on the market for a few years now, it’s quite a hard task to pave your way to the customers’ hearts, and gain their trust and loyalty. Luckily for you though, there’s a way to make your audience see your brand in a new light or… see your brand at all! It shouldn’t come like a bolt from the blue that we’re talking about using a unique cartoon character design, i.e. a mascot.

What is a brand cartoon character, anyway?

Let’s throw some light on the subject. Generally, a brand cartoon character or a mascot is a personalized cartoon character who takes up the role of a brand’s spokesman. This fictional guy represents your brand offline and online by becoming the face of all your marketing campaigns, company presentations, print-out materials such as posters, leaflets, business cards, giveaway physical products, and pretty much everywhere people could possibly encounter your brand. The purpose is, the more people see your cartoon guy, the more they will fall for them and respectively, for your brand.

Sounds nice but… do I really need one?

Not necessarily, but hey, why don’t you first throw an eye on just a small portion of the benefits of having a brand cartoon character, such as:

• you get instant recognition by your audience,
• you gain their trust and loyalty way more easily,
• it helps you build a stronger customer-brand relationship,
• it boosts your shares, boosts your sales, and on, and on, and on… The benefits are literally countless!

What could turn out to be a challenge for many companies, though, could be a financial issue. The good news is, that there are actually a few ways to enjoy all the benefits of having a personalized brand cartoon character and spend quite reasonable money on it. So, let’s get started!

1. Get a premade character design.

There is a huge diversity of premade characters throughout the web and at GraphicMama, also. Pick wisely, though! Different characters evoke different connotations. The character you choose will speak a lot about your brand.

For example, animal cartoon character designs usually come with a strongly defined symbolism. Bee is for busy, pedantic, or workaholic. A lion is easily related to being fast and strong, even a champion. A bird conveys feeling free and happy, having a great vision. Human characters, on the other hand, could greatly represent your audience. Personified objects will add a fun and perky touch. Superheros express out-of-this-world superpowers, and so on.

Getting a premade cartoon character design doesn’t mean that you’ll have to satisfy for less of a quality. It’s the most low-cost option of all, indeed, but it’s up to you to pull it off and make it a winner! All GraphicMama characters come in plenty of poses to help you represent your brand in the best way possible. You can also add a personal touch to your mascot simply by changing the colors in accordance with your brand colors. So, go take it and make it yours!

2. Alter a premade cartoon character.

A little bit more costly way to go if you don’t have the skills to do it by yourself, but still qualify as a budget option: take an existing cartoon character design and modify some of its details according to your personal needs.

Here are a few ideas that you can apply in order to achieve a unique cartoon character design:

• Make it look like a specific person, e.g. change the haircut, the outfit, or alter some of the facial features.
• Make it represent your target audience by changing the color of the skin, the hairstyle, add specific accessories or body features such as tattoos, for example.
• Incorporate brand elements, e.g. make your cartoon spokesman wear a T-shirt or a cap with your logo, or add some brand-specific accessories.

If you have the skills to do it by yourself, go ahead! It would not cost you a cent more than the price of the cartoon character itself. Otherwise, you will need to hire a freelancer or an agency to do it, especially if you need it done in plenty of poses. If you decide to go with a cartoon character design by GraphicMama (by the way, awesome!), have in mind that we can also customize it for you.

3. Order a cartoon character design from scratch.

Perhaps the most personalized option possible! Although the financial matter could go quite wild here, there are certain low-cost options.

One of them is to search for a freelancer. There are plenty that offers custom services at reasonable prices. Another way is to hire an agency that offers a budget pack. Such a pack includes just the essentials needed to make your idea come to life. For example, GraphicMama’s budget option is the Go Fit pack which includes 3 pencil drafts of your concept, made by 1 illustrator, with 2 round revisions included. In return, you get a 100% custom character designed exclusively for you and in accordance with all of your requirements. Despite being a bit more expensive than the first two options, this is the only one where you get the final product’s copyrights transferred to you, so it’s worth considering it.

Bottom line,

there are many possibilities to a get a brand cartoon character on a budget, nowadays. Whether you have just started out on your entrepreneurial journey, or you have been in the business field for quite a while, it’s never too late to improve your marketing strategy. Investing in a brand cartoon character design is a business tactic that has proved its effectiveness throughout the years. It has led to an extremely high ROI for many companies that you and we are now fans of. And guess what. Not all of them had a fortune to spend when they started. Turns out, on a budget or not, it’s not the mascot itself that guarantees your success. It’s how you implement it in your overall marketing strategy. So, roll up your sleeves and go make your cartoon character on a budget a winner!

You can continue with some of these related articles:

• Character Clipart: a Collection for Every Taste & Every Project
• The Basics of Character Design Process: Insights and Examples
• 5 Easy Ways to Make Your Own Cartoon Character [For Non-Illustrators]