a puffin riding a narwhal clubbing a baby seal

hands down, this is one of the most bizarre (but fun) requests i've ever received as a designer or artist. of course it comes from my sister, who happens to share my weird, twisted sense of humor.



my sister is the executive officer of her ship, serving in the US Coast Guard. if you ever had the impression that all military personnel are stone-cold hard-asses, i guess you've never met my sister or her crew. this was my design brief:

Hey Parker, do you think you could design a cute cartoon picture of a puffin riding a narwhal? I know you must think this is a strange request. My crew, for some reason has become obsessed with the idea of a puffin riding a narwhal and keeps talking about making a t-shirt of it. You can tell that we have girls on our ship because of the crazy conversations that most normal male crews don't have. 

For example: 

Me: What color shirt did you want? 

Joscelyn: Powder blue. very artic looking. perfect for a puffin riding a narwhal, clubing a baby seal. 

Me: Oh. but i don't think the guys would wear that. 

Trevor: I would totally wear that! 

Joscelyn: Yeah, look at BMC over there (he is wearing a bright blue t-shirt) 

Me: I stand corrected. 

Trevor: Yeah, we should wear them during morning sports. 

We should make Rueben shirts too! (Rueben is the resident stuffed animal toy on the ship)

Me: Hm.. and what color should those be? 

Trevor: Pink of course. 

Me: what a strange crew we have...

i had a lot of fun with this one. if they ever get those t-shirts made, i hope they'll take a group picture so i can post it here! :)