My Christmas Mascot
December 7, 2008 Posted by Tyler CruzIt’s not quite Christmas yet but it’s only a little over two weeks away. And so keeping with the Christmas and winter holidays spirit I thought it would be a good idea to ditch my poker chips and soft drink for some piles of cash and presents. Oh, and I even decided to wear a Santa hat!
If you read my blog by going to my actual website, then you’ll have noticed my new logo during the past couple days. However, if you read my blog through an RSS reader or by e-mail then you wouldn’t have seen it. However, I just updated the image that is attached to my posts to those who are subscribed to my RSS by e-mail, so you should see my new Christmas look now.
For regular RSS readers who can’t see it, here it is below:
So what do you think? There’s even some snow on the ground as well as on top of the “TylerCruz.com” text not seen here (but on the actual website).
I just thought it’d be fun to get into the spirit of the holidays and dress my mascot up. It reminds me of last year, when blogger Toni Turner created a fun flash video in which I make a cameo appearance along with Darren Rowse of Problogger.com, John Chow, and John Cow.
So what’s in the presents you ask? More money!
The Talent Behind the Mascot
Ever since I had my mascot commissioned over a year ago, I’ve had many people asking me who designed it. Even though it clearly says who in my Recommended Resources page, it appears that not everyone read it.
Sergio from SOSFactory.com is the talent behind my mascot, and has done a few for me now. Without hyperbole, I can confidently say that Sergio is a world-class artist, especially when it comes to mascots.
I don’t throw around such praise easily so that’s saying a lot. When it comes to custom cartoon/mascot work, Sergio is really one of the best in the world.
Sergio charges $600 per logo, and while that may sound expensive, it’s really not. In fact, it’s quite cheap! First of all, you’ll be getting a world-class logo which you’ll guaranteed to be happy with. I say guaranteed because he’ll make provide you with early sketches and revisions along the way to make sure you’re happy with the way it’s taking shape. If not, he’ll do it until you are.
Secondly, he’s pretty fast. While he’s been getting a steady stream of work lately (since people are starting to find out about him), his turnaround time isn’t quite a fast as it used to be, but it’s still pretty fast considering the level of quality you’ll be receiving (1-2 weeks).
Lastly, you’ll be provided with the PSD and any sources used in high resolution so that you can print offline material such as business cards, posters, or T-Shirts with you mascot. I can personally say that the value my logo has brought me in terms of branding is worth $600 many times over.
Here are a few samples of Sergio’s other work. A much larger portfolio can be found as his website SOSFactory.com.
As the first two logos show, Sergio has done a number of other prominent blogger’s mascots as well, including JohnCow.com and BloggingTips.com (recently underwent a redesign).
His portfolio speaks for itself and I’m sure you’ll agree that he really is one top-notch designer.
Anyhow, hope you enjoy “Christmas Tyler”! He’ll be up until the new year.
Can you tell me who did your layout? I’ve been looking for one kind of like yours. Thank you.
Thats awesome Tyler! I’ve been thinking of getting a mascot for one of my sites and Sergio might be who I’m looking for.
Well , explains why all the blogs I went to the other day have similar mascots…..And here I thought just everyone was good at photoshop.
These guys really know what they’re doing. They have been doing a lot of tutorials for Photoshop blogs to try and teach others how they create their mascot. However, they use a piece of equipment that is $3000 that allows them to draw like they are drawing on paper. I like the new Christmas mascot Tyler.
Hello Franklin, actually Im just 1 person company and you are talking about my lovely Wacom Cintiq, you can get the smaller version (12″) for around 1.000US$, mine is the bigger one (21″) for around 2.000US$. Its expensive but increase the productivity 600%, it totally worth it.
Available at Wacom Shop: http://www.wacom.com/cintiq/cintiq-21ux.php
Thanks for reading my tutorials 🙂
Sergio
Looking at his portfolio, he has a whole array of good work besides just character mascots. Imagine he could take a theme or niche and anthropomorphize it. Like take a poker chip or car, make it into person with eyes, legs, feet. I see he has done a lot of animals already.
Just found this blog and I love it! Can’t wait for more!
nice logo. I wanted to comment because I was shocked that the behemoth has a tight race in this challenge! It will be interesting to see how it finishes up!
That is fuc*ing amazing… Including the JohnCow Headers.. btw what happened to cow ? I haven`t see a post on his blog in ages..
Sergio’s work is great, but I would definitely not pay $600 for something that could be done for $100 or as little as $50. He wouldn’t even give any discount when I asked for a quote lol.
As for Toni, she definitely just disappeared after massively marketing that website of hers with Entrecard and that video.
-Mike
Oh, seems like they do UNLIMITED revisions, which is totally worth it for $600 🙂
-Mike
Hey Mike, how much would you charge for 15 hours of work? Its what I spend on every single design… If you know anybody with the same quality charging less (or even more) please, post his portfolio.
I can do some discount time to time but Im not a monkey… you want to pay peanuts 🙂
Thanks a lot for your kind words guys, its much appreciated 🙂
And thanks Tyler for the promotion 😉
Cheers.
Sergio
Well that is why I added a comment after saying it’s worth it. If it wasn’t for the “unlimited” revisions, I wouldn’t think it’s worth it. The revisions is what totally makes it worth it since someone would be able to get it changed pretty much any time.
-Mike
I think what is meant by Unlimited Revisions is during the sketch phase until the design is agreed upon. I don’t think it means that you get unlimited revisions of your Mascot after it’s completed.
Meaning, I don’t think after your mascot is done you can come back and ask for changes to it, adding things, changing things, removing things, etc. all for free. I could be wrong, but I think the Unlimited Revisions is just during the initial design, no?
I really like his work will def go to him for any mascot i need in the near future
Definitely looks good..
nice that people customize according to the theme.
Loving the new Christmassy theme of the mascot!
WTF, $600 per logo? That’s too big for me. Maybe it’s fine to spend that big money for a logo “only” if you earn 5 times that amount or more.
You think $600 is expensive for a logo? If anything, it’s cheap. Many others go for much more than that.
Great logo Sergio…I like the pirate one a lot too.
I like that a lot, great work.
I came back for a while just to check the logos again.. 🙂 They are awsome .. Nice one Tyler
Serio is a great artist. He’s very easy to work with too and his prices are very competitive.
This dude is “off-da-hook”. He’s really good. I just went to the site to check him out. Great stuff. I was just looking for someone to do some of the characters that I have in my mind. Sweet, thanks for the info.
The graphics are amazing 😀
how much did it cost? looks nice
He does good work. I may have to consider getting a mascot made up soon.
I love the festive logos. We’ll have one up soon on the MarketLeverage home page. Unfortunately, there’s too many of us to get personal characters, but the M will look good with a santa hat!
When I created my ronripple.com website I was originally going to go with Sergio over at sosfactory… but found it was extremely expensive.
So I found Jeff over at http://xplodemarketing.com/index.php/custom-artwork-by-jeff-c/
They did it for half the price and I was featured in Forbes Magazine two months ago.
Mate, its not the same quality. You got what you pay for.
You lost a good choice to cause big impact.
Lol, says on Jeff’s website that he created the ronripple site for himself, as in, he owns it. I guess this is a disguise attempt at self-promotion…
ahh just like brick and mortar business’s your decorating the site for Christmas. Did you buy your gifts yet?
Find me in Forbes Magazine and tell me it didn’t make an impact!
wow! Those are some amazing logos!!!!!! 600 is deffinetly cheap for that quality work!
That looks really cool. And I actually have a really nice one too on my site http://www.blogangry.com
Great stuff once again, it’s interesting that so many bloggers use the same guy (I guess that’s how it goes through the system).
I know in real estate, there is a company that makes “Super Hero Business Cards” creating avatars very similar to what SOS does. They’re not cheap either , but I figure would be worth every penny.
I’d imagine the logo has already paid off, I know when I first visited the website, it gave a nice feel to the website.
Sergio has done a great job there for you Tyler.
Your mascot for christmas is beast.
I love the money around your laptop.
Your Christmas mascot is beast.
I wish I had a mascot like you.
$600.00 dollars is a lot of money for a mascot.
But I actually think its worth it.
That I think was the coolest mascot I ever seen.
WOW!!!
Good luck and best wishes for your blog.
It’s the best I’ve seen. Splendid !
I think this is one of those instances where you get what you pay for. $600 for a cartoon drawing is a lot of money…but man, it’s good looking, and if it promotes your brand, it’s definitely worth it in my book. I hope one day to be able to afford this kind of quality.
Actually, I also wanted to say that it looks much better in your post as it’s bigger and you can really make out a lot of the details. That guy is definitely talented!
Man those are nice.. I would love to get one done for my next project.. $600 is definitely worth it, but unfortunately way out of my budget.. Maybe Sergio will want to promote his site with a contest here or with John or something 😉