Caithness illustrator's colourful and quirky eejits earn a place in national final
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A Caithness illustrator is hoping his idiotic collection of cartoon characters can bring him success in a national competition.
George Mackay, creator of the eejits – a colourful and quirky bunch of creatures drawn from his own vivid imagination – has been named as a finalist in the 2020 License This! awards hosted by Brand Licensing Europe.
The competition is normally held in London but is taking place digitally this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
George (43), from Thurso, is among six brand designers who have been chosen across two categories.
He now has to create a pitch video ahead of the live judging early next month.
George, a self-employed mechanical design engineer, has devised more than 300 eejits over the past 15 years. Aimed largely at the seven to 12 age group, the weird and wonderful figures adorn stickers and prints and feature in an internationally popular card game, Bahoochie.
He would like to develop a series of picture books and sees potential for short animations. He hopes that the exposure from being a finalist can help take his concept to the next level, with companies paying for the rights to make and distribute products using his characters.
“At core level it’s just my creative outlet," said George, who uses Affinity Designer software to bring his eejits to life.
“I never took art at school but I was always fascinated with characters, be it through watching Tom and Jerry with my dad, or Looney Tunes, and I used to collect UK comics like the Beano, Dandy and Oink.
“I started doodling strange wee creatures and characters and learned how to digitally ink and colour them on the computer. Once I had a few characters grouped together as a stupid little bunch, the ‘idiots’ thing came into my head and I thought eejits was a good word so I used that as a brand name.
“I used to sketch on paper and a sketchbook but with Affinity Designer I’ve got it on my computer and I’ve got it on my iPad so I’ve got a little more freedom for designing characters. I can do everything – I can go from sketch straight through to final graphics.
“In 2016 I did a weekend workshop in Glasgow with a Disney character designer and animator. That was quite good. He had a look at my portfolio and gave me tips on how to improve.”
He added: “The biggest success I’ve had is with a card game called Bahoochie.
“I successfully crowdfunded that and the first run sold out, so then I invested my own money to get a big run of the cards and I tweaked the designs slightly. I sell them online and locally through Eye Candy [gift shop in Thurso].
“I do stickers, prints and greeting cards and I’ve got a small A5 book coming out with 44 pages and a rhyme for each character.
“I’ve got a membership site through Patreon where people pay every month to get exclusive access to new characters and sketches and behind-the-scenes stuff and also exclusive prints and stickers. That’s where I’ve been focusing most of my attention over the past year and a half.
“At the moment all I’ve got are characters really, and in my head there is a sort of world they live in, but I would need to develop that world. I think the first step would be through kids’ picture books."
He would also like to develop "five-minute punchy cartoons that are funny but straight to the point and grab the attention of kids, pushing the humour to maybe the boundaries of acceptable levels”.
George, whose main markets for eejits are the UK and America, has to submit the video for his License This! pitch by next Monday before the live judging on October 8. It is part of a virtual Festival of Licensing running internationally for four weeks with the aim of bringing together the licensing industry to connect and do business.
“Because I’m a finalist now I have to make a pitch video for a presentation," said George, who is married with a son and daughter. "Normally that would be done live on stage in front of the judges, sort of like a Dragons’ Den type of thing. Seeing as it’s being all done virtually I thought I would have a crack at it and see what happens.
“I’ve actually been encouraged for a couple of years to enter this competition because people think it would be a fantastic opportunity for me, so this year I took the bull by the horns and went for it.
“Reading the website, they say that previous entrants – both winners and finalists – have successfully signed lucrative agent and licensing deals, so you never know what could happen from this point onwards."
George is a finalist in the "character and animation" section alongside Anthony Williams (Taoa Studio) and Siobhan Harrison (Siobhan at April Rose). The other section, "brand and design", consists of Louise Bell (Louise Bell Art), Danelle van Eeden (Kos-Kos) and Tracey Colliston (Owls Nest, Ginger Betty)
Kelvyn Gardner, chairman of the judges for License This! and managing director of Asgard Media, said: “Despite the obstacles, the 2020 License This! competition once more produced a plethora of creativity and business foresight among some high-quality entries. We have six very worthy finalists from whom we look forward to live pitches to decide our two champions.”
