Tuesday, February 25, 2014

March Hare Madness


The next marketing theme for the upcoming month is the "March Madness" college basketball tournament. This is alongside the pervasive green faux-Irishness of Saint Patrick's Day. I decided that the mascot for "March Madness" is the March Hare of Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland." I designed this basketball version of the March Hare for a Trader Joe's graphic. It's done in the style of the famous Sir John Tenniel, illustrator for the classic first editions of Alice. I've added a basketball shirt and shorts to the outfit. He wears the traditional bunch of straw on his head. The straw on the head signified being crazy, according to Victorian symbolism.

It turns out that "March Madness" long pre-dates basketball, at least when it comes to rabbits. The reason that the March Hare is crazy is that breeding season for bunnies starts in March, when they leap about and mill and fight with each other and make love like, uh, rabbits. 

This graphic will advertise March munchies and will soon be colored in. Marker ink on Bristol board, about  3 1/2" x 5", February 24, 2014.

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