Doodles

Doodles the Rooster is back. Chick-fil-A’s original mascot gets a refreshed look for a new collection of merchandise, with plenty of nostalgia intact.

Chick-fil-A

Drawing from Heritage to Remake a Classic Mascot

Before the cows, Chick-fil-A had a rooster. Doodles was the brand’s original mascot, appearing alongside the slogan “The best thing that ever happened to chicken” before being retired in the 1990s. For a heritage celebration, Chick-fil-A wanted to bring him back and reintroduce the character in a way that stayed true to the original.

I was brought in to redraw and refine Doodles as a flexible set of five poses for everything from merchandise to a large-scale mural. I tightened the proportions, line work, facial consistency, and silhouettes, then rebuilt the artwork as clean vectors. The result was a more consistent, production-ready Doodles that still felt unmistakably like the original.

CLIENT
Chick-fil-A

AGENCY
Chick-fil-A In-House

STUDIO
Weirdo Works

YEAR
2024

ROLE
Mascot refresh and illustration
Justin Gammon

RESULTS
Heritage mascot revived after ~30 years off-brand
Limited-edition line across various products — most sold out
Featured as a wallpaper mural in Chick-fil-A’s corporate office

vintage Illustration of a cheerful cartoon chicken character wearing a red T-shirt with the word 'Doodles' on it, confidently walking against a tan background.

Illustration of a cheerful cartoon chicken character wearing a red T-shirt with the word 'Doodles' on it, confidently walking against a light blue background.

Chick-fil-A | Doodles Mascot: Before & After

Chick-fil-A | Doodles Vintage Mascot Costumes

Throwback to Chick-fil-A’s First Mascot

Doodles Ruled the Roost

Before the cows became Chick-fil-A’s best-known mascots, there was Doodles. The rooster appeared throughout the brand’s early history, often dressed in his signature tights, comb, beak, and tail feathers, and showed up across everything from kids’ menus to activity books and other promotional materials. Though Doodles eventually stepped aside for the cows, a trace of him remains in the Chick-fil-A logo, where the “C” still incorporates the profile of a chicken.

A sketch of a cartoon chicken character in various playful poses. The chicken is drawn in black and white, wearing a shirt. The poses include: jumping with arms and legs spread, standing with hands on hips, waving with one hand, sitting with legs extended, and walking with one leg lifted. The background is a light beige color.

A cartoon character resembling a chicken in various playful poses. The chicken is wearing a red shirt with "Doodles" written on it. The background is a solid teal color. The chicken is depicted in five different actions: jumping with legs spread and arms outstretched, standing with hands on hips, waving with one hand, sitting with legs extended, and walking with one leg lifted.

Chick-fil-A | Doodles Mascot Sketches-to-Illustrations

Sketching the Digital Transformation of an Icon

Doodles for Doodles

The Doodles refresh began with sketches exploring a range of expressive, versatile poses while keeping the character recognizable and consistent. From there, each pose was refined and rebuilt as clean vector artwork, giving Chick-fil-A a flexible set of illustrations that could scale from small printed pieces to large-format applications.

Chick-fil-A’s Mascot Makes a Stylish Comeback

Classic Mascot for Modern Merch

The refreshed Doodles didn’t stay on the drawing board. The new artwork became a large-scale wallpaper mural at Chick-fil-A’s corporate office and appeared across a wide range of merchandise — embroidered on hats and shirts, printed on mugs, stickers and keychains, and even on pens, buttons and more. Seeing the same character work at everything from keychain size to an entire wall was a pretty good test of just how flexible the new system could be.