Cartoon Couple — Fiftieth Anniversary, Adelaide

A couple in Adelaide had been married fifty years. Their children wanted to mark it with something that was not a photograph album, and asked for the two of them as they actually stand — which is to say, always slightly leaning into each other.

What they asked for

A cartoon couple at roughly 2.2 m, two figures composed as one piece on a shared base, both smiling, arms around each other. Placed in front of the family’s retail storefront.

Building it at full size

At 2.2 m the shared base carries an engineered frame for both figures together, which is a different problem from two separate pieces: the composition has to hold as one silhouette while each figure still reads individually. We build a group in 3D first and you approve the arrangement before anything else starts.

The finish

Gloss-painted fibreglass in warm contemporary clothing colours, hand-painted detail, UV clear coat. Because the piece sits on a lit shopping street it needed to read well at night as well as in daylight, which is a painting decision as much as a lighting one.

Installation

Delivered in three sections and assembled on a concrete pad in front of the storefront. The pavement was reinstated around the base.

What it cost

Above 2 m, survey figures for fibreglass cartoon groups run $3,800–$15,000. This commission came in at $9,600 delivered and installed, twelve weeks from 3D approval.