Case file 008 · Character

Monty

Monty wears a lot of hats. So does anyone who starts a company.

LIVE

EXHIBIT A

Monty: a tall, calm man with a long pointed nose, closed eyes, a brush moustache and a work jacket with an M patch, one hand on his hip

The challenge

A holding company with a fund, a builder, a property manager, an event space and a studio. Five brands, five looks, no thread.

What we did

One character who takes a job at every company. Same face, same jacket, a different hat.

Where it landed

Thirty-odd poses and counting, on screen at Monval and on the Swamp Kitten TV.

CLIENT: Monval and its companies (in house)
OUR ROLE: Character, rules, poses, animation, placement
LIVES ON: monvalcapital.com, swampkitten.com, and next, everything else
INK: Monval ink on paper, or phosphor green on glass

01The idea

Monval is a family of companies: a fund that buys buildings, a crew that rebuilds them, a team that runs them, an event space, and a studio that makes the websites, apps and games. Each one needs to look like itself. Together they risk looking like strangers.

Founders wear a lot of hats. Monty wears them literally: a hard hat at Vallon, a beanie at Coterie, a flat cap on the golf course. Every project we make for ourselves gets a Monty. He’s the one recurring face, so a tenant, an investor and a gamer all meet the same guy, doing whatever that company does.

02The rules

A character only holds a brand together if he’s recognizably the same every time. So Monty has a short list that never changes:

Eyes closed, small smile. Content, never frantic. They open only when something’s really worth it.
The nose. Long, pointed, out in front. It leads every pose.
The moustache. A brush, drawn as short radiating strokes.
An x in the ear. The detail nobody notices until they do.
The M patch. The parent company, on every job, on every jacket.
Rolled cuffs, black boots. Dressed for work, wherever the work is.
One hat at a time. The hat tells you which company he’s working for today.

Monty's model sheet: front, three-quarter, side and back views; six expressions; six hand poses; and his hats and props, from a hard hat to a tray of martinis — The model sheet: turnaround, expressions, hands, and the hats and props he carries.

03Many hats

One pose per job, grouped by company. When we start a new project, the first question is what Monty’s doing there.

Monty off to a closing — **Monval**Off to a closing

Monty full service — **Monval HQ**Full service

Monty laying brick — **Vallon**Laying brick

Monty hauling lumber — **Vallon**Hauling lumber

Monty second coat — **Vallon**Second coat

Monty move-in day — **Coterie**Move-in day

Monty clearing the walk — **Coterie**Clearing the walk

Monty window day — **Coterie**Window day

Monty open friday — **Carriage House**Open Friday

Monty showtime — **Carriage House**Showtime

Monty doing the reading — **Home Fieldbook**Doing the reading

Monty shipping it — **Swamp Kitten**Shipping it

Monty barnacle — **Swamp Kitten**Barnacle

Monty walking the gator — **Swamp Kitten**Walking the gator

04Off the clock

He needs a life outside work, or he’s just a logo with legs. These are the ones that make people smile: the Pittsburgh parking chair, a doorway he’s too tall for, and a Great Dane that walks him.

Monty saving the spot — **Off the clock**Saving the spot

Monty mind your head — **Off the clock**Mind your head

Monty walking the dane — **Off the clock**Walking the Dane

Monty tee time — **Off the clock**Tee time

Monty out of office — **Off the clock**Out of office

05Spots and scenes

Most Monty drawings are spots: clean single-weight line, lots of white, small enough to sit in a margin. A few are scenes: pen hatching, a real Pittsburgh place, big enough to open a page. Monty stays clean in both, so the style comes from the setting, not from him.

Monty climbing overgrown Pittsburgh city steps toward a row of Italianate rowhouses, drawn in pen with hatching — The city steps nobody uses, up to the houses nobody’s looking at.

06One man, two screens

On Monval he’s printed in ink on warm paper, next to Caslon, like spot art in an old magazine. On Swamp Kitten he glows phosphor green on a CRT. Same drawing, same man, set in each brand’s own light.

The Monval Capital 404 page: Monty politely holds open a door that opens onto a brick wall, above the headline Wrong address. — Monval’s 404: a door that doesn’t go anywhere. Yet.

Channel 8 on the Swamp Kitten TV: Monty walks an alligator on a leash, drawn in glowing green lines — Swamp Kitten’s TV, channel 8: Monty and the gator.

Four frames of Monty and the gator walking, side by side — Four frames, flipped at old-cartoon speed. He swipes on, then strolls the gator across the screen and around again.

07How he’s made

Every pose starts from one master drawing, the standing pose up top, and one fixed brief that spells out the rules. New poses are generated against that reference, then we pick the ones that stay true to him, clean them up, set them in each brand’s ink and animate the ones that move.

Poses generated with AI image tools from our reference and brief, then selected, edited and animated by Swamp Kitten.

08What Swamp Kitten did

Character: Monty, his look and the seven rules he never breaks
Poses: one job for every company, plus a life off the clock
Placement: one per page, matched to what the page is for
Two treatments: ink on paper for Monval, phosphor on glass for Swamp Kitten
Animation: a four-frame walk cycle for the Swamp Kitten TV