Housefly Fishing
Nestled along the banks of the Lackawaxen River in the town of Hawley, Pennsylvania, resides Housefly; a fishing shop that strives to marry fly fishing, tying essentials, and conservation with local and international art. Opened in the spring of 2021, avid fishermen and founders Sean Witman, Tim Miller, and Dan Santoro offer an eclectic approach to fishing retail. It has been gaining admiration with fishing and outdoor communities alike.
Even before Housefly Fishing existed it's founders would organize volunteer-based community river and lake clean-ups.
Housefly asked me to design a character for these clean ups, an official mascot for the Housefly Clean-Up Crew.
Inspired by the famous Litterbug character, we wanted an anti-litter bug for the Housefly Clean-Up Crew.
Being a collector of vintage Litterbug character collectibles I had quite a reference library for this design. The original litterbug is nastier looking, I mean he does love to litter! Our's was gonna be friendlier.
My second round I made sure the character was friendly, not as cutesy. This version needed just a little more grit and to give more of a nod to the classic Litterbug. Still
fun and with good intentions with references to fly-fishing.
Initial phases of the mascot were cute but too cute. In this situation it wouldn't help a brand and worse confuse it's audience.
We paired the final drawing with the group's favorite font Cooper Black to give it a bold and fun but also classic look.
Our final design was printed on high-visibility safety neon shirts and given to all the volunteers that showed up to clean the Lackawaxen River and neighboring Middle Creek.
