Weird, slimy faces and a mosquito man for Maynards, from Sam Lyon

On his site Jelly Gummies, Scottish illustrator Sam Lyon hosts a herd of weird, slimy characters. Digitally sculpted and usually animated in gloriously wobbly ways, the surreal creations include fruit with Mighty Boosh-esque faces, grotesquely gelatinous food for Lucky Peach, and plasticine-like characters for MTV, alongside others for Adult Swim and Giphy.

His latest commission is for Maynards Bassetts’ brilliant ongoing series of Tangy Intermission ads, via Wieden + Kennedy and Blinkink. In Sam’s animation, a suited man becomes a mosquito who just can’t resist the glowing neon light of a tangy sweet.

He also recently created a music video for Nvdes, featuring a melon and a lobster going on a road trip. “I like making things that catch the light in a plasticy or slightly slimy way,” explains Sam, who’s based in Blairgowrie. “Putting faces on objects is quite important too, I don’t know why it works so well. I usually go for bright colours, but tend to stay away from the more fluorescent side.”

Describing his process, Sam says: “My workflow usually starts with sculpting the models in Sculptris and then moving into Blender to clean them up, paint them and add the shine.”

“Recently I’ve been playing some old Fallout games, and the style of the pre-rendered characters looks really nice to me. That sort of texture and lighting is what I’ve been trying to emulate for a while, so if I could get close to this I’d be really happy.”