twintomo
twintomo
twintomo
Co-founder, Illustrator, Designer
Co-founder, Illustrator, Designer
Co-founder, Illustrator, Designer
Small Business
Small Business
Small Business
Overview
Overview
When my friend Rhea and I first met, we discovered that our names were pronounced the exact same--and this turned out to be only the first of many coincidences. As it turned out, we not only share similar names, but also the same birthday, the same university, the same majors, and even overlapping hobbies and interests.
When my friend Rhea and I first met, we discovered that our names were pronounced the exact same--and this turned out to be only the first of many coincidences. As it turned out, we not only share similar names, but also the same birthday, the same university, the same majors, and even overlapping hobbies and interests.
"twintomo" grew from our shared love of illustration, an idea that we had been brainstorming for a while before it finally debuted at ZotCon in May 2026. We wanted to design original characters inspired by our real personalities, built around the idea of us as "twins," a nod to the amount of similarities that we had found between us. We'd long admired the same artists, meeting many of them at local artist alleys, conventions, and flea markets, and we dreamed of joining them one day. When we learned that UC Irvine was hosting ZotCon, an annual art and anime convention, we knew it was our chance to get started. We fleshed out the details of our brand identity, applied under our new name of "twintomo," and introduced our characters: Miu and Moka.
"twintomo" grew from our shared love of illustration, an idea that we had been brainstorming for a while before it finally debuted at ZotCon in May 2026. We wanted to design original characters inspired by our real personalities, built around the idea of us as "twins," a nod to the amount of similarities that we had found between us. We'd long admired the same artists, meeting many of them at local artist alleys, conventions, and flea markets, and we dreamed of joining them one day. When we learned that UC Irvine was hosting ZotCon, an annual art and anime convention, we knew it was our chance to get started. We fleshed out the details of our brand identity, applied under our new name of "twintomo," and introduced our characters: Miu and Moka.
Programs
Procreate
Illustration Tool
Clip Studio Paint
Illustration Tool
Microsoft Excel
Spreadsheet Tool
Programs
Procreate
Illustration Tool
Clip Studio Paint
Illustration Tool
Microsoft Excel
Spreadsheet Tool
Programs
Procreate
Illustration Tool
Clip Studio Paint
Illustration Tool
Microsoft Excel
Spreadsheet Tool
Year
Year
2026
Process
Process
Designing and Illustrating
When designing our characters, we knew we wanted a cohesive aesthetic while maintaining sufficient balance and contrast. To make the characters more distinctly recognizable, we first ideated representative items that their designs could reflect. We brainstormed various matching elements, including a squid & an octopus, a strawberry & a blueberry, and raspberry chocolate & mint chocolate.
Ultimately, we landed on the cat & dog dynamic, as it would be easily relatable to a large audience, and because I have a cat while Rhea has a dog. We also maintained a complementary color palette of teal/brown and pink/gray. After many iterations, we finalized our designs, with myself primarily in charge of designing Miu, my representative cat-like character.
Designing and Illustrating
When designing our characters, we knew we wanted a cohesive aesthetic while maintaining sufficient balance and contrast. To make the characters more distinctly recognizable, we first ideated representative items that their designs could reflect. We brainstormed various matching elements, including a squid & an octopus, a strawberry & a blueberry, and raspberry chocolate & mint chocolate.
Ultimately, we landed on the cat & dog dynamic, as it would be easily relatable to a large audience, and because I have a cat while Rhea has a dog. We also maintained a complementary color palette of teal/brown and pink/gray. After many iterations, we finalized our designs, with myself primarily in charge of designing Miu, my representative cat-like character.
Designing and Illustrating
When designing our characters, we knew we wanted a cohesive aesthetic while maintaining sufficient balance and contrast. To make the characters more distinctly recognizable, we first ideated representative items that their designs could reflect. We brainstormed various matching elements, including a squid & an octopus, a strawberry & a blueberry, and raspberry chocolate & mint chocolate.
Ultimately, we landed on the cat & dog dynamic, as it would be easily relatable to a large audience, and because I have a cat while Rhea has a dog. We also maintained a complementary color palette of teal/brown and pink/gray. After many iterations, we finalized our designs, with myself primarily in charge of designing Miu, my representative cat-like character.
Merchandise Design
For our merchandise, we prepared a variety of original and fan-made illustrations to turn into stickers, prints, and more. Since we were preparing to booth at an anime-centered event, we wanted to not only represent our own original characters, but also popular franchises that we (and larger audiences) would all resonate with--while also staying true to our brand identity & aesthetic. We also created hand-made deco items such as hair clips and rosettes, which also adhered to our blue and pink theme.
After a month of hard work, we finalized our merch catalogue and designed graphics to display our merchandise options on social media and at our booth.
Merchandise Design
For our merchandise, we prepared a variety of original and fan-made illustrations to turn into stickers, prints, and more. Since we were preparing to booth at an anime-centered event, we wanted to not only represent our own original characters, but also popular franchises that we (and larger audiences) would all resonate with--while also staying true to our brand identity & aesthetic. We also created hand-made deco items such as hair clips and rosettes, which also adhered to our blue and pink theme.
After a month of hard work, we finalized our merch catalogue and designed graphics to display our merchandise options on social media and at our booth.
Merchandise Design
For our merchandise, we prepared a variety of original and fan-made illustrations to turn into stickers, prints, and more. Since we were preparing to booth at an anime-centered event, we wanted to not only represent our own original characters, but also popular franchises that we (and larger audiences) would all resonate with--while also staying true to our brand identity & aesthetic. We also created hand-made deco items such as hair clips and rosettes, which also adhered to our blue and pink theme.
After a month of hard work, we finalized our merch catalogue and designed graphics to display our merchandise options on social media and at our booth.
Reflection
The ZotCon artist alley experience was overall a great success: we met so many amazing fellow artists and small business owners, and turned a profit of over $250. As we continue building our "twintomo" brand, we hope to continue doing more events like this to have an even larger impact on the art community.
Reflection
The ZotCon artist alley experience was overall a great success: we met so many amazing fellow artists and small business owners, and turned a profit of over $250. As we continue building our "twintomo" brand, we hope to continue doing more events like this to have an even larger impact on the art community.
Reflection
The ZotCon artist alley experience was overall a great success: we met so many amazing fellow artists and small business owners, and turned a profit of over $250. As we continue building our "twintomo" brand, we hope to continue doing more events like this to have an even larger impact on the art community.
