Football Freddie & Fumble the Dog: Gameday in Tampa Bay

Project Overview

Football Freddie & Fumble the Dog: Gameday in Tampa Bay by Marnie Schneider and Susan T. Spencer (Mascot Books, December 2021) takes the series to Florida’s Gulf Coast, where Freddie and Fumble explore Tampa Bay’s beaches, spot manatees, and visit historic sites before heading to Raymond James Stadium to cheer on the Buccaneers. The story balances the series’ signature sports excitement with genuine curiosity about the city, giving young readers reasons to love Tampa Bay beyond the game day.

The illustration challenge was capturing Florida’s distinctive visual warmth — its particular quality of light, its coastal wildlife, its blend of Spanish colonial history and modern sports culture — in a way that made every spread feel unmistakably Floridian without becoming a postcard.

Role

This is an installment in an ongoing series, which means the illustration challenge begins before a single background is sketched: Freddie and Fumble had to look and feel exactly like themselves, consistent with every prior volume, while Frederico — a new local character specific to the Tampa Bay edition — needed a distinct personality that came through clearly from the first spread he appears in. Florida’s Gulf Coast presented a rich visual palette: the coastal light, the aquarium, Gasparilla’s pirate festival, and Raymond James Stadium each required a different environmental register while keeping the book’s warm, cheerful tone consistent throughout.

Full illustration across all 38 pages covered series character consistency for Freddie and Fumble, character development for Frederico, coastal Florida environments and wildlife, Tampa Bay landmarks and stadium illustration, and print-ready file preparation for Mascot Kids.

Character Design

Before a single page is illustrated, I develop the main characters in full — defining their proportions, expressions, and personality. This is the foundation that keeps your characters recognizable and consistent across every scene, every lighting condition, and every emotional moment in the project.

Process

Every project follows this same structured path, so you always know where we are and what comes next. You review and approve at the sketch stage and the line art stage — nothing moves to color until you’re happy. By the time the final spread is rendered, there are no surprises.