The Girfoos

The Girfoos are a family of fictional characters invented by me. The four could not be any more different from one another and their unique personalities clash constantly, bringing about the most hilariously dramatic situations. Ultimately however, Girfoo Mama, Girfoo Papa, Foo and Gir are there for each other, even if their ways of showing their love tend to be equally… unusual.

As an ongoing project, their individual designs are currently being developed further & a series of comedic comic strips planned.

The beginnings

Creatures loosely based on rabbits and aadvarks with the fur pattern of a giraffe, the Girfoos were born from an ink doodle in character design class. The initial style and look was adjusted later to make them appear more expressive and diverse.

Bachelor Project

For my final university project I decided to turn the Girfoo concept into something more. They became my own family, inspired by the shared life of my parents, younger sister and I during my childhood and teenage years. A diary was created, one where each character was given their own distinctive voice, visualized by their individual handwriting and style of depiciting their account(s) in drawing. The illustrated journal presents as a humorous multiple narrative, each family member giving a different view on various “occurences”. The finished book as seen below bound by me.

For more details you can read about my project on the university’s website here.

Pages from the diary

The illustrated journal entries were created using colored inks, black and sepia fineliners, watercolors, a biro pen, fountain pen and a calligraphy feather.