Tama-Chan started with a sketch of a dog with a TV for a head and never stopped. The brief I gave myself was simple: build a character system, not a single drawing. If a virtual-pet game ever needed an icon, an in-game pose, a UI background pattern, and a moodboard color sample — they'd all need to feel like the same animal.
One character, six expressions
The expression sheet is where a character becomes a system. Six rounded faces — angry, irritated, smug, sad, sleepy, content — pulled from the same TV-head proportions but each carrying its own posture in the ears and mouth. Same shape language, six different feelings.
The palette & the pattern
Six muted lavender-greys, a single dark accent for outline weight, and a heart-and-bone ear pattern that ties the in-game world to the brand. The palette had to read at icon size and at moodboard size — anything that broke either end was cut.
Two coats, same dog
The body study includes both a soft grey variant (the default) and a warm cream variant — same proportions, same posture, different fur. The variants started as a "what if there were skin colors" exploration and became part of the system.
— Lana