Royal Nation is a realm where creativity and imagination define reality.

I was contracted to design a series of creatures and props for characters that would appear in a brand film as a part of the launch campaign for a children’s line of street wear, Royal Nation. The aesthetic inspiration for the brand was a blend of influences, rooted in basketball sportswear, hip-hop culture, and medieval fantasy. The film itself leaned into a grander narrative that would set the main character as a new king, chosen to help lead a court of friends and allies to victory over tyrannical oppression of their freedom and creativity.

I was tasked with designing a trio of gryphons that would be the children’s allies, expanding the lens from being confined to a lion/eagle combo to a bird/big cat combo, each with character traits inspired by particular rappers and basketball players’ style. I also worked in collaboration with Rue Sakayama to bring one of these gryphons to life in a full scale creature suit.

In addition, I also designed each of the characters’ primary weapons pulling inspiration from their respective Arthurian analogs (Arthur, Merlin, Bedivere, Lancelot, Lamorak, and Mordred). I also worked with existing branding to create analogous “shadow” heraldry for the villain, Permian.

Photography by Noel McGrath