Thursday, May 03, 2007

Al's Monumental World of Popsicles

Our last assignment in Visual Development was to design interesting popsicles, and I came up with a set of popsicle shapes and flavors based on monuments like the Taj Mahal, Mayan Temples, Easter Island Heads, Buddha Statues and the like. Then, we developed the character who would sell them and the cart s/he'd sell them out of. I came up with Al, a retired high school History teacher who, after his wife's death, decided he wanted to benefit the community by educating the children about the multicultural world through treats. Despite his great aspirations, the kids don't listen to his lectures and only want the ice cream, but he continues to hand-make the popsicles and sell them out of his ultra-tacky cart. He's extremely sad and lonely, and only seems to feel ebtter when selling his creations. His daughter, Gertrude, is 15, entering puberty, and mortified by her father. A daddy's girl her entire life, she still feels an obligation to him, and will sometimes run the cart during the summer, but she's dedicated herself to her social life: boys, short skirts, and stuffing her bra. Al, of course, is completely terrified of the boys she gets attention from, and usually scares them away with voodoo-popsicles. Al and Gertrude share an uncomfortable, awkard bond that I don't think we've seen the last of yet.



1 comment:

coffman said...

bizarre, intriguing and all out great concept...dare i say animated short? also what is wrong with wearing wingtips?!?!