Meet the adventurous captain Squack
Squack is more than a little chubby creature on a key chain. In the book Tata&Squack the Big Journey, he becomes Tata’s friend.
Tata’s parents are researchers, who studied the migration of the Wildebeest in the Serengeti. When their assignment is over and they fly back home Tata is sad. The flight attendant passes by with a basket full of toys. She picks Squack. Suddenly out of a magic swirl Squack comes to life. Startled at first, but then all too happy to return to Africa and show her new found friend all the things she loves so much.
Together they join Moyo, the wildebeest called “heart” on an adventurous hunt for the “watertreasure”. They learn why two million animals follow the rain, year after year and how to survive lions and crocodiles along the way.
Sketchbook Squack
Squack was designed as a mix of different animals. He has spots in his fur from a hyena, he wears his manes like a lion king, has a bear belly, monkey hands, duck feet and sticky-out ears. I love using a sketchbook to work out different ideas and techniques. The development of the character started with the head. Then I started looking at the shapes of different animals in relation to the head. I felted Squack around a frame with real joints, which means he can be modeled into different poses. For the illustrations he was photographed and his facial expressions were then altered on the computer.
