Crikey.

So this is the sign for the next trade show, with a "crocodile hunter" theme. I was given a pink post-it note with the text, and was told the theme... I was thinking about possibly a cartoony version of Steve Irwin, but thought that'd be a little tacky, seeing as he's um... kinda... dead :P I found out that Jackie from marketing would be dressing up in the famous khaki outfit for the show, so I got the go-ahead to make a cartoony version of her instead.

This is my idea sheet with sketches of how things could look:

Then I went ahead drawing out Jackie in croc-hunter garb:

Photoshop geekiness follows:
For this type of cartoon (like the TMNT Steve-o) I've pretty much got my method down now - I start with a pencil sketch, ink it over and scan it (1st version pictured), then clean it up in Photoshop and get rid of errant lines (2nd version). I add coloring beneath the linework, making separate layers for each article of clothing, skin and hair (3rd version). I then use adjustment layers (set to hue/saturation) for the shadows and highlights on each layer, drawing within the layer mask to control where the shadow/highlight will go. I like this adjustment layer method, because it leaves room for tweaking later on... after it inevitably looks different on the first printed proof.

The rest of the final sign/poster was done with Illustrator, popping a traced "jungle" photo in the background, then a couple of starbursts and a radial gradient for a vignette type effect.

I basically stole the style of the "crikey" text from TMNT Steve-o, but hey... maybe that's justification for drawing it at work in the first place? Works for me.