I am taking inspiration from the festival ‘La Tomatina’ in Valencia. My thinking was that a tomato called ‘Tomatina’ would could make a simple yet striking design, and would be recognisable and engaging to children. Her round shape will be fitting with a the ‘cute’ brief and bright red colour striking and distinguishable from other characters.
However I want to differentiate my character from others in different ways. In some way, looks and personality wise she won’t be the archetypal female cartoon character. Typically male characters are the plain ‘default’ and women the accessorised variation. This is can be illustrated by Pac-man and Ms Pac-man and Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
As a standalone character, Tomatina will be the ‘default’ however that will not meant she will be plain. I want to satirise the accessorised female character by exaggerating their typical attributes. My character Tomatina will be an instagram influencer, the often ridiculed profession, stereotyped as undertaken by vain, image obsessed women. I will not be breaking down stereotypes in this instance, in fact I will be playing to them. Tomatina will have her nails long, her lips pumped full of filler, and a face full of makeup. I don’t personally identify with any of these attributes, nor am I trying to make an overtly political statement, in fact my decision stemmed from my encounter with the term ‘Yassification”.
The definition and origin of the term can be found here:
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/yassification
In essence, I wanted to create a Yassified tomato because I think it’s funny.
My next post will contain my designs.