Concept
Expand an existing mascot into a superhero universe with a clear antagonist and campaign premise.
Case Study / Character + Integrated Campaign
COMFORTPROS.FURNESTRO.
Taking an existing HVAC mascot and giving him something every superhero needs: a villain, a world and a story worth watching.
Creative DirectionConceptFurnestro Character DesignScriptwritingStoryboardingLive-Action DirectionProp Fabrication2D AnimationSound Design
THE BIG IDEAGive the hero a villain.
The assignment
Make HVAC
feel like entertainment.
Comfort Pro Man was already the company's mascot. I didn't create him. My opportunity was to expand what that mascot could do. I conceived and designed Furnestro as his antagonist, then built a retro superhero campaign around their rivalry—connecting character development, physical props, live action, animation and sound into one creative world.
Existing assetComfort Pro Man
Original characterFurnestro
My roleConcept → Direction → Execution
MediaLive Action + 2D Animation
01 / THINK IT.
A hero is only as memorable as the world around him.
Rather than redesign an established mascot, I treated Comfort Pro Man as the starting point. The campaign needed conflict, personality and a reason for the character to do something. Furnestro became that reason: an HVAC villain built specifically to oppose the existing hero.
I developed the campaign concept, created Furnestro, wrote the scripts and storyboarded the spots before production. That gave the live-action, physical and animated pieces one shared idea instead of a collection of disconnected mascot executions.
Create
Design Furnestro, scripts and storyboards, then translate the concept into 2D, 3D and physical production assets.
Produce
Direct the live shoot and carry the campaign through animation, sound and campaign creative.
Original character creation
Meet
Furnestro.
I created Furnestro from concept through character design as the villain opposite Comfort Pro Man. I produced the 2D model and directed another artist in translating the design into a 3D model, then worked with another collaborator to physically print the character for production.
02 / MAKE IT.
Then we made the fictional world physical.
The production couldn't stop at a character drawing. I designed the retro action-figure presentation and built the physical box used in the video by hand. For the service van, I started with a children's toy, created and printed the graphics, and applied the stickers myself to turn it into a miniature Comfort Pros vehicle.
That hands-on fabrication sat alongside creative direction: I directed the live-action shoot after developing the script and storyboard, while the 3D character fabrication was executed by collaborators under my direction.
Production
Live action.
Animation. Sound.
The campaign moved across production disciplines. I wrote and storyboarded the live-action spot, directed the shoot, created the 2D character assets and animation, and contributed to its sound. The retro piece was an even more direct execution: I handled 100% of its animation and sound design.
THE THROUGH-LINEIDEA
TO OBJECT
TO OBJECT
Concept → character → 3D direction → handmade props → live shoot → animation → sound → campaign.
03 / MARKET IT.
Creative direction
that still makes things.
The strongest part of this project wasn't any single deliverable. It was the ability to carry one idea through wildly different forms without losing the concept: a newly created villain, physical character models, handmade production props, live-action direction, 2D animation and sound.
Comfort Pros is a good example of how I work at my best: directing the larger idea while remaining close enough to the execution to solve whatever the concept needs next.