I was honored to be considered to do a job for a place I have always admired The San Francisco Academy of Sciences.I was brought up visiting their aquarium,planetarium and alligators .So it was a great thrill to be asked to do some designs for a mascot suit based on their "star",Claude the albino alligator.These are a select few of initial ruff designs ,they didn't want the six foot something alligator suit to scare kids so I tried to make him look sweet or goofy.
This is the final design that went to the manufacturer after I reconfigured him to accommodate a human .His hands, feet and eyes got a little realistic.
But in the end cartoony won over and his eyes got bigger and his hands and feet got squishier.