About the Project
Now it’s going to be worth it!
Meet Cashboy, the new brand character we developed for the Megamarket marketplace. You can easily recognize him by his glasses and signature lavender jacket with a bonus badge. And that’s no coincidence, as his main job is to promote the loyalty program and recommend deals with high cashback! You can find him in TV commercials, digital banners, social media, outdoor advertising, and on the marketplace itself.
2D Design Exploration
A palette of identities
When developing the concept for Cashboy, we went through a long process, working with several artists in different directions. The final stage of production involved focus groups, after which the chosen design was selected.
“We knew the character had to be a cashback assistant, but who he was beyond that function was unclear. The range of possible identities was broad: a Slavic type in a traditional shirt, an anthropomorphic Crow, an abstract Spirit-Spark in trendy sneakers. In the end, we chose the direction of a “Soviet scientist”, which evolved into the current version — a graduate student in a turtleneck and jacket.”
Character Development
Looking for an assistant
Our task was to create a character you could trust completely when it comes to smart shopping. To achieve this, we not only designed the character’s appearance but also laid the foundation for his personality, defining his traits, movement style, and catchphrases.
3D Development
Digital tactility
After finalizing the 2D design, we started the 3D process, focusing on textures. These were hand-drawn, giving the character’s visual style warmth and tactility. Deliberately left brushstrokes and lines in certain areas add personality to the character and emphasize his unique style.
Roman Novak, Look Development:
“Creating textures by hand without using generators, prebuilt libraries, or special programs has always fascinated me. So I tried drawing everything directly in Blender and then polishing it in Photoshop. Understanding the process of creating stylized normal maps was one of my biggest challenges. Along the way, I discovered some optimal methods to balance stylized textures and realistic lighting, which helped emphasize the materials better.”
Hero’s World
From digital to reality
While working on the character, we asked ourselves: Where does he live? What does his world look like? How does Cashboy appear in reality? This led to the concept of a digital backstage for the marketplace, a spacious laboratory that the hero explores in his free time and from which he monitors cashback and users. Cashboy can transition from digital to the real world by changing his size.
Guidebook
Bon voyage!
The final stage of working on Cashboy was the creation of the branding and technical guidebooks. These documents detail both design aspects — color codes, personality, poses and animation characteristics, spatial work principles — and technical aspects — animation export, cleanup, and rendering features.
