FRANCE 98 – The Creator of Footix

Fabrice Pialot: When I started working on this project, my first thought was for children. All the time I had the idea of creating a character who would appeal to children, be simple as regards visual treatment and, hence, easy for them to draw. For the past few years, I have been working a lot on packaging designed for children, and this experience has come in very useful. I wanted a dynamic character, and its head/rocket illustrates this well. 

How did you move from being a professional musician to your present work as a commercial artist?  

F.P.: It’s true that I was a saxophone player and today I’m the happy father of the FRANCE 98 mascot. All that came about through pure chance. I always used to draw on the margins of my music scores. Drawing really was important for me. So, then, several years ago, I made the decision and devoted myself to this work as a profession. Who do I admire in this field? Lots of cartoon artists, like Tex Avery or Chuck Jones, rather than comic strip artists. 

What sort of message do you see the mascot as putting over?  

F.P.: It seems to me that it’s the message that was set out in my contract: a likable character who is very representative of France. Above all, I wanted to make it as likable as possible at the human level, by giving it a sporty image, of course, while playing down the aggressiveness as much as possible. Which is why I invented the character of the son. I’ve a son six years old who was a great source of inspiration.