PROJECT: SHAUN IN THE CITY

CLIENT: THE GRAND APPEAL / AARDMAN ANIMATIONS

Shaun in the City comes from the team that created the award-winning Gromit Unleashed which saw Aardman’s loveable canine sidekick Gromit raise £2.3 million for Bristol Children’s Hospital.

In 2015, Aardman’s internationally-acclaimed character Shaun the Sheep will appear in two ewe-nique arts trails! 120 giant Shaun sculptures created by artists, celebrities and designers have been placed in iconic locations and beautiful green spaces across London and Bristol, before going to auction to raise money for children in hospitals across the UK 

OBJECTIVE: I was briefed by the team at The Grand Appeal to create a Union Jack themed design to feature on one of the 5ft Shaun sculptures...

The completed design is one highly patriotic sheep! My original inspiration for the design came from images of Team GB supporters at the Olympics 2012 and other sporting events - I'd imagined Shaun to be a kind of self-appointed leader of 'Team Sheep GB'. As such, I decorated him with Union Jack face paint, hoof nail art, a red, white & blue dyed fleece and wig (both ‘diamond-rinsed’ with glitter flecks) and some supporter badges around his back end. When completed, his glittery fleece and button badges give him a kind of Rock vibe...  which gave rise to the name 'Flock 'n Roll!'

Pictured below are some images of him outside Victoria Rooms, home to the music department of the University of Bristol, and a suitably regal looking stand point for this Shaun! The University of Bristol are the kind sponsors of Flock 'n Roll.

This is one of 2 Shauns I created for the Bristol trail... the other is called 'Fab-ewe-lous' and I have a separate feature on him here

If you're interested in seeing a little more about how these sculptures were created I have documented the 'behind the scenes' painting process of both sheep with a series of ' photo stories' in a blog post

For more information about Shaun in the City, and to check out all the other designs created, please visit the Shaun in the City website

Update: The Shaun in the City trails are well and truly over now, but a range of merchandise has been created featuring many of the Shaun designs, including mine. To enable the charity to continue raising money for the Children's Hospital why not have a look and bag yourself something sheep-ish...

View the Flock 'n Roll Figurine and the Flock 'n Roll Travel Mug

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