South Carolina Alumnus Kev Roché Brings Cartoon Cocky to Life

Cocky recently got a makeover, and South Carolina alumnus Kev Roché made it happen. Not the real mascot, but the cartoon Cocky image that is used in promotional materials for the South Carolina Athletics Department. It was in need of an appearance that could be used in a broader range of creative ways. That’s where Roché stepped in.

Kev Roché

“The Athletics Department reached out to me about some rebranding for Cocky,” said Roché, who graduated from South Carolina in 2005 and currently works as an illustrator for ESPN. “It was really cool to not only put your stamp on a collegiate mascot, but also have it be from your school. That was incredible. What I do is try to add personality and some style to logos and characters. Hopefully that’s what I was able to do.

“My wheelhouse is old collegiate logos, especially character logos where they have a mascot. I used to draw them all the time when I was growing up. I draw athletes and mascots for fun, and now they pay me for it!”

The previous versions of the cartoon Cocky were limited in how they could be used, and the marketing department for South Carolina Athletics wanted to retool the marks. In addition to his work with ESPN, Roché illustrated the very popular Just a Chicken series of children’s books, which were written by former Gamecock football student-athletes Langston Moore and Preston Thorne.

“The books definitely helped me out in doing this,” Roché said. “I do a lot of Carolina-themed work even if it’s not strictly for the University. So, I’ve had plenty of opportunity to draw the chickens!”

“I wanted to put my own stamp on it, but I also didn’t want to get too far away from the recognizable form that is Cocky.”

Roché keeps himself busy creating images for ESPN for use in baseball broadcasts, including the recent MLB Home Run Derby, but he found time in between to pour his energy and talents into the Cocky artwork.

Kev Roché design for ESPN

“It took me a couple of months to finish them because I had some other projects for ESPN and Sunday Night Baseball,” Roché said. “I had a few variations, but once I really got going, it only took me a month to come up with nine variations, and we picked out a top six for them to use.

“I wanted to put my own stamp on it, but I also didn’t want to get too far away from the recognizable form that is Cocky.”

In addition to his first-hand knowledge of South Carolina, Roché did his research.

“We got on a call with a former Cocky, and he took me through a lot of things,” Roché said. “He talked about the big feet and that he flapped his beak a lot and everything else I needed to focus on for these marks. So, it stayed true to all the main attributes that Cocky has.”

Roché initially did a lot of work doing illustrations for EPSN’s SVP (Scott Van Pelt) and (Ryen) Russillo radio show, which is also televised.

“Our sense of humor just matched up,” Roché said. “I listened to that show all the time, and they had great stories that lend itself to illustrations. When a producer from that show moved over to baseball, she remembered my work, and I’ve been doing work with that for the last five years.

“I do some Baseball Tonight illustrations that they need. I do them in different layers, and they have a guy in the production truck who can separate the layers to give it some animation and movement.”

The first design appears on a t-shirt within the August Cocky’s Locker subscription.

For Roché, getting do what he enjoyed doing as youngster is a dream come true and encourages aspiring doodlers to do the same.

“Fill that notebook up! This was the stuff I was doing in middle school and high school. Back then, I thought I was going to be an NBA player. Shockingly, that didn’t work out, but that’s OK!”