Michelle Mosburger

Illustration Series – A fictional set of flat character illustrations of skateboarders for Swiss Olympic, created as part of my vocational training. Developed in Illustrator.

Concept

The goal was to capture the energy of skateboarding in a series of flat, stylized illustrations based on Swiss Olympic's brand guidelines. I collected references of real skaters and illustration styles, focusing on dynamic poses mid-trick. All athletes wear a red shirt with the Swiss cross, black pants and a blue board, a reduced palette that keeps the series recognizable.

Concept

Boxing is about impact, focus and endurance. My goal was to capture all three in a single image, following the principle of less is more. The headline came from a punk song called «Don't Break», which I was listening to while working on the visual. It fit perfectly: in boxing, you have to endure, stay on your feet and keep fighting until the final round.

Process

Each figure is built as a modular system of circles and basic shapes that work like joints. This way, I could change a pose by simply rotating individual body parts instead of redrawing the figure from scratch, similar to a character rig in animation. Using photo references to get proportions and movement right, I then refined the poses, tested alternatives and added color and details step by step. The final series shows four athletes, each performing a different trick.

Swiss olympic

Swiss olympic