My visual quote is based on a nostalgia of mine; waking up early for Saturday morning cartoons. I’d always be up early for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and also because of the inspiration from a vinyl collectible sitting on my desk at home, I decided to work with the famous quote by the goof of the turtle brothers, Michelangelo, who says, “Cowabunga Dude!”
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to draw out figures or use type in order to create a representation of the quote said by the cartoon character. I started thinking about the colors that would be used in the piece and started playing with greens and oranges until I started seeing a picture of what I could draw, in my head.
My first concept was based off of the turtles’ shells and the silly nature of the way the characters speak, so I thought of the shell representing Michelangelo the turtle and his quote as a banner for his shell.
Another idea that came to mind is the fact that the characters are New York based and live in the sewers of the city. When I was younger, I used to believe they—the turtles—actually existed and would call out to me to join their squad. I created a classic NYC manhole cover and imagined Michelangelo calling out his famous phrase from the sewers.
Finally, in this piece, I couldn’t help but include the classic love of pizza the characters share and now I’m getting hungry, but Michelangelo already picked out the best slice!!
