Drawing is the oldest form of communication, we learn to draw even before learning to write, being an important tool for expressing feelings, opinions, desires and much more, as César (2001, p. 219), comments:

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“Drawing has always been a powerful form of communication. Before photography, reality was portrayed with color pigments and pencil strokes. And even with photography, illustration has not lost its place. It has weakened a lot, it is true, from the 90's onwards. But in the 60's, 70's and 80's, as well as photography, illustrations were very much in demand to complete a text”.

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I firmly believe that this reality has changed. Today the use of illustration is much greater, we live in a totally imagistic society, just notice the amount of magazines based on infographics. Well, still in the field of observation, something caught my attention – the title of an article from Exame.com magazine [1]: “Mascots return to the spotlight in brand strategies”. As explained by the writer Clotilde Perez, author of the book “Mascots, semiotics of imaginary life”, by Cengage Learning.

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“The main advantage of the mascot is to adopt flexible forms, any object or animal can undergo a process of humanization. They become familiar in people's lives, thus building a relationship that goes beyond posters, brands, products, to be part of everyday culture” (PEREZ, 2010).

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Having done this little introduction about the pets, let's share the creative process of developing our mascot from the concepts to the "final".

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Remembering that the main objective of the mascots is to somehow personify the brand, bring subjective elements such as; quality, competence, value, reliability among many. Literally provide a “face” an image that identifies the company. An association of the mascot and the brand it represents. The mascot must contain an “appeal” and an accentuated pregnancy and carry the value/mission of the company.

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First things to consider when crafting a pet:

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1st - Style;

2nd - Type of Character;

3rd - Because of the character;

4th - Color of the character;

5th - Character name;

6 - Logo of the character's name;

7th - Color of the “logo” character.

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Sometimes we find ourselves worrying only about the aesthetic part of the character, its look, but a personality and psychological structure is necessary for the creation of the mascot. As Bugay (2004) comments:

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“Just like choosing actors for a film, developing a character involves knowing your personality and physical proportions, which are factors that affect your appearance and the way you will move. It is necessary to analyze your movements, actions and emotions. In a live action movie, with real actors, character building is a process that involves the writer, director and the actor himself. In an animation, where the characters are all created virtually, good definition and character building in advance is critical [sic]”.

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Even if it is not identified a priori by customers, this helps when creating usage situations and maintaining coherence in the general context.

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1st - Style

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Among the styles we classify the three most influential; the idea is to have a visualization of the mascot's aesthetic mode;

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• Realist;

• Mango;

• cartoonish.

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So we analyze:

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   • Realist

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Bringing up a mascot that maintains real characteristics could imply the lack of “appeal” or a more limited and restricted use. Mainly in the use of animal characters that could lose their pregnancy, not having a friendly interaction between company/client.

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   • Mango

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The character created in this style has a good acceptance, although the biggest audience is female between 10 and 20 years old. It's still not a fully acceptable style for commercial use. So we discarded that style.

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   • Caricature

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Our option is based on the use of this style. Due to the possibility of stylizing the shapes, we could have a huge range of strokes. The serious doubt in which category would support the creation of the mascot, since the cartoon style has a huge variation, such as: Franco-Belgian trait, stylized realistic, retro, Disney trait, new retro, children's etc. and within these variations there are still subdivisions.

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We evaluated that the children's line would be the most appropriate, considering the use of curved lines, which produce a pleasant, dynamic and easy to understand reading. Increasing identification with the public due to “appeal” and pregnancy, thus reaching parents, adolescents and children.

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2nd - Character

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Having defined the drawing style, we would now have to identify the appropriate character for the Institute.

We would have the option:

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Animal, mineral, vegetable, human, fantastic and abstract.

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We immediately discarded the mineral due to the difficulty of an “appeal” and of pregnancy, as other information could suggest, then it was the vegetable, as it could easily be referred to another segment.

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The abstract would not have an immediate understanding and even in creation and its facets it would be difficult to control.

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The “fantastic” would probably not have the necessary information for a quick reading and could demonstrate that the Institute would only have one line of work, thus affecting the mascot effect.

We are left with two categories animal and human.

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For the latter we decided that they would be children or teenagers, but they are generally used for other segments.

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We then opted for the animal. Now we should identify which animal.

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We would like an animal that is not used a lot, after some research, we came to the conclusion that we would use the Chameleon.

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3rd - Because of the Character

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The chameleon has a lot to do with the Institute's methodological vision. One of these features is:

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• your ability to adapt;

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The Institute also has this characteristic since its professors, who are active in the artistic field, always observe and “adapt” to new styles and concepts, market trends, new materials, etc. so that students always have up-to-date courses. Adapt to the needs of students so they can absorb the most in the classroom.

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Another characteristic of this animal is its eye capacity, which rotates on its axis 360º.

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This coincides with the Institute's vision, as it is always present and has an “eye” on the market and, at times, indicates great opportunities for students. Or what happens in the world within the area of arts and especially comics.

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Within the field of view:

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The chameleon when it goes to hunt its prey, fixes one eye on it and the other turns in different directions to see if it is not at risk. Comparatively, the student is the main focus, their learning is our goal and objective, so one eye is always focused on the student and the other watching, tirelessly in search of new resources and opportunities.

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We also have the folkloric side:

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In the symbology of some African tribes, the chameleon is a sacred animal, it is seen as the creator of the first men. It is never killed, and when it is found on the way, it is taken with care, for fear of curses.

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In the Amazon, meeting a chameleon indicates good fluids: these animals indicate good luck, and killing them brings bad omen.

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Recently surveys speak even more about our mascot:

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Chameleons have evolved the ability to change color to make themselves more visible, not, as is popularly believed, to hide by mimicking the surrounding landscape, suggests a study by Australian and South African scientists.

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The reptile changes color for a variety of purposes:

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• Communication;

• camouflage and

• temperature control.

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However, the primary reason why they developed this ability remained unknown.

Writing in the scientific journal PLoS Biology [2], scientists say the motive was to transmit messages to other chameleons.

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"(Our research) suggests that chameleons evolved this color shift to convey messages, repel rivals or attract mates, rather than to mimic a greater variety of environments," said study co-author Devi Stuart-Fox of Melbourne University.

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The ability to change colors dramatically evolved as a strategy to facilitate communication and socialization, not camouflage. Within these contexts, we believe that the chameleon is the most representative and significant character to conceive the values and vision of the institute.

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Now we would need to identify which species of chameleon would be used as the basis for creating the pet. After much research and hours of reflection we came to the conclusion that the Chamaeleo Jacksonii , popularly Jackson's chameleon, a class of chameleon native to the forests of East Africa, which in some countries are used as a mascot, would be the basis for the development of the mascot.

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Figure 1 - Chamaeleo Jacksonii