Sailor Shelly — Lady Luck and the Sea Dogs
A study in stylized performance—bridging pulp illustration and animation-ready design.
A tongue-in-cheek pin-up adventure inspired by mid-century pulp animation and Saturday-morning serials.
Designed as a modular 2D lineup for potential motion, each character was built to translate cleanly from key art to rig-ready animation.
Project Overview
Shelly and the Sea Dogs began as an experiment in merging 1950s cheesecake illustration with modern vector clarity.
The goal: revive the optimism of post-war adventure cartoons while giving the heroine more agency and swagger.
Creative Context
Every element — linework, palette, and silhouette — leans into nautical motifs: ropes, anchors, and brass detailing.
The limited color palette mirrors vintage Technicolor while keeping the characters crisp for broadcast or in-game use.
Design Approach
Character System
Shelly anchors the ensemble as a bold, unflappable captain surrounded by an eccentric crew of rogues and romantics.
Each design reads instantly at thumbnail scale and can flex between poster, animation, or merch formats.
Motion Proof
A looping GIF animation explores Shelly’s pose language and attitude — part pin-up, part pulp hero.
It was designed as a test of the lineup’s motion readability and cohesion in a single-frame sequence.
Proof-of-concept motion test exploring attitude, balance, and appeal.
Designed to validate the lineup’s readiness for animation pipelines.
Future Notes
The world of Lady Luck and the Sea Dogs remains a living experiment.
Later, I may expand it with stylized walk cycles or short animation loops to push its broadcast potential.