Art #46: McJollibee | Under The Mascot

about 3 years ago

Hello! One of them probably looks familiar to you. Yup, it's Ronald McDonald, the clown mascot of international fast food chain, McDonald's. Maybe it boggles you why I drew Ronald McDonald under a bee mascot?

This was my entry for the third Emoji to OC of ArtPark. The three emojis presented were: 🐝 🤡 👍

A bee, clown, and thumbs up.

Well, as a Filipino, this was the idea that popped in my head:

McJollibee, The Impostor

Warning! Warning!

~~There is an impostor among us!~~

It's Ronald McDonald under the Jollibee mascot! (Mascotception? lol)

For non-Filipino readers, Jollibee is our local version McDonald's and the number one fast food chain in the country, dethroning McDonald's from its royal seat (in the Philippines). There are two main reasons why Jollibee overtakes the clown here in my country: The taste are closer to what Filipinos prefer and the bee mascot is a lot more times cute than the clown. Oh, there's a third reason, by the way. Kids love Jollibee! Of course, that's where kids would drag their family to eat. When I was a kid, I also preferred Jollibee because they taste better for me and the ambiance of the Jollibee stores are more friendly.

Since these two huge fast food chains are well-known rivals, it is an amusing sight to see their stores located opposite or at least near to each other literally everywhere. Here in the Philippines, when you see a Jollibee store, a McDonald's store is surely nearby, and vice versa.

And since McDonald's can't overtake Jollibee in my country, I came up with this idea as my entry for the Emoji to OC. I think the combination of emojis are just too perfect for drawing this piece so I didn't let it pass. Actually, it's too difficult to let it pass. My inner self kept bugging me to draw it.

The concept: Ronald McDonald sneaking into the Jollibee headquarters to discover Jollibee's secret.

I drew him doing a thumbs up because he had successfully found and worn one of the mascots, meaning his plans will go according to his plan. Well, as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures. Gotta do everything to defeat your rival! Lol.

However, as I stared on my drawing, I thought of another meaning behind it. It could also mean deceiving your true emotions (clown) and pretending to look happy like Jollibee's happy face. Isn't that a dark and sad meaning?

Do you that to yourself? Concealing your true emotions and pretending to be happy?

Please don't. Acknowledge your true feelings. Don't force yourself to do something that will hurt you more in the long run.

Before I digress, I'll proceed to the drawing process.

Drawing Process

mcjobee process.jpg

I tried to draw this artwork carefully, starting from the rough sketch and doing the shading. I am satisfied with how I shaded it especially Jollibee's chef hat. For the background, I decided to just go plain black because I was aiming for a bit creepy vibe like more shadows on the subject with just one side for the light source.

However, I think I failed to do that but still, I am happy with the shading. Lastly, of course, I overlayed an oil paint texture and brought down the opacity down to around 12 percent.

I consider this as a special artwork because it features the top favorite fast food chains in my country. What a surprising collab, right? It made some people laugh while some felt the creepy vibe with it. Whatever their reactions towards my drawing was fine for me. I was amazed of how they interpreted the drawing, actually.