Kiki the Cyber Squirrel

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Kiki the Cyber Squirrel, from Krita 3.1 splash

Kiki the Cyber Squirrel, normally known as Kiki, is the mascot of free and open-source digital painting software Krita. First introduced in 2012, she appears in Krita's startup splash artwork, about dialogue and merchandises, and has received many fanarts made by Krita users and non-Krita users alike. Her designer is Tyson Tan.

History

Long before Kiki's debut, Krita's community learned the fact that "Krita" is also the Albanian word for squirrel.[1] As a result, a few squirrel-based mascot ideas were posted to KDE Forums.[2] On 26 December 2012, Tyson Tan posted his idea of an animal-based icon for Krita, along with it was an anthropomorphic version as a mascot idea.[3] The icon didn't stick, but the mascot was well-received and later used as the cover for Krita's 2.6 introduction booklet.[4] The mascot did not have a name at the time.

Before Krita 2.8's release, Tyson renewed Kiki's design, adding pink as decorative color to resemble Krita's new icon. He also gave the mascot a name: Kiki the Cyber Squirrel. The new artwork was used as Krita 2.8's startup splash artwork.[5] Since then, every major Krita version has been released with a new Kiki artwork from Tyson with of a different design.

Tyson has donated Kiki's copyright to Krita Foundation, and all his Kiki artworks have been licensed under Creative Common BY-SA and GNU GPL.[6]

Design

Kiki's design sheet by Tyson Tan, as used for her plastic model kit

Kiki's detail looks different in each version, but there are some aspects in common:

  • She is a cartoon anthropomorphic tree squirrel.
  • Her primary color is paper white, with dark grey as secondary, pink and sky blue as decorative colors.
  • She has Flower-shaped pupils, ears and other details.
  • She has some robotic details like the seams between her parts, but they have long, curvy organic outlines.

Reception

Kiki has been well-received by general audience, and she is considered one of the more marketable free software mascots.[7] A large of amount of Kiki fanarts have been made by Krita and non-Krita users,[8] in the forms of 2D artwork,[9] 3D model,[10] animation,[11] etc. On March 2017, a highly-detailed figurine model kit was released by Ryou-ichi Itou.[12]

Gallery

Artworks by Tyson Tan

Tyson's Kiki artworks are licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA and GNU GPL.

  • Kiki from Krita 2.6 introduction booklet.

  • Kiki version 2.8 with double peace gesture

  • Kiki from Krita version 2.8 Splash

  • Kiki from Krita version 2.9 beta1 splash

  • Kiki from Krita version 2.9 final splash

  • Kiki version 2.9, from book cover of Digital Painting with KRITA 2.9.

  • Kiki from Krita version 3.0 splash

  • Kiki from Krita version 3.1 splash

  • Kiki's design sheet for her plastic model kit

  • Box art of Kiki's plastic model kit

Plastic model kit

Kiki's plastic model kit based on the design sheets by Tyson Tan, she was modeled and built by Ryou-ichi Itou.[13]

  • Kiki the cyber squirrel mascot of krita plastic model photo 01 front view cropped.png

    Kiki's plastic model, front view

  • Kiki's plastic model, rear view

  • Kiki's plastic model, low angle rear view

  • Kiki's plastic model, ears close-up

  • Kiki's plastic model, alt. pose front view

  • Kiki's plastic model, alt. pose rear view

  • Kiki's plastic model, face close-up

See also

References

  1. ↑ Foundation, Krita. "Krita’s Mascot | Krita" (in en-US). https://krita.org/en/about/kiki/. 
  2. ↑ "Krita 2011 Sprint T-Shirt! -- KDE Community Forums" (in en-gb). https://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f=137&t=92453&p=184893. 
  3. ↑ "Krita Icon and Mascot Idea -- KDE Community Forums" (in en-gb). https://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f=276&t=109395. 
  4. ↑ http://www.valdyas.org/~boud/aboutkrita26.pdf
  5. ↑ "Kiki's Creative Flow". http://tysontan.deviantart.com/art/Kiki-s-Creative-Flow-433363249. 
  6. ↑ "Tyson Tan — Kiki’s Plastic Model Kit It has been almost a...". https://tysontan.tumblr.com/post/163435357116/kikis-plastic-model-kit-it-has-been-almost-a. 
  7. ↑ "Speaking of Kiki" (in en). http://hollaforums.com/thread/683113/technology/speaking-of-kiki.html. 
  8. ↑ "kiki krita - Google Search" (in en). https://www.google.com/search?q=kiki+krita&tbm=isch. 
  9. ↑ "Charathon". http://charathon.tumblr.com/search/kiki?og=1. 
  10. ↑ "Meet Kiki, the Krita mascot in 3D!". 2016-11-11. https://www.blendernation.com/2016/11/11/meet-kiki-krita-mascot-3d/. 
  11. ↑ Foundation, Krita. "Krita 3.0: The Animation Release | Krita" (in en-US). https://krita.org/en/krita-3-0-release-notes/. 
  12. ↑ Foundation, Krita. "Interview with Ito Ryou-ichi | Krita" (in en-US). https://krita.org/en/item/interview-with-ito-ryou-ichi/. 
  13. ↑ Foundation, Krita. "Interview with Ito Ryou-ichi | Krita" (in en-US). https://krita.org/en/item/interview-with-ito-ryou-ichi/. 

External links




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