Peter Fluck

The making of Roger the Pig

Time to celebrate the skills of Scott Brooker.

When Joe and I were asked to do the exhibition at the Guardian, we thought it would be good to have something 3D in the gallery along with the prints. Perhaps the closest thing we have to a mascot is Roger the Pig, who appeared – having one of his "dark days" – in an early food cartoon. I contacted Peter Fluck, who, having brought us Spitting Image, was bound to know someone who could help. So we were put in touch with Scott.

I'll admit, calling a guy to see if he could make us a large model of a depressed pig holding a felt tip in his snout ranked as one of my more exotic days. But when Scott showed us his gallery of work – from film, TV and stage – it became clear this was a pretty regular gig for him. This man seems to be able to model anything.

"How big do you want him?" said Scott. We shuffled uneasily in our seats and said it would depend on the cost – while mentally picturing our Spinal Tap moment: the grand unveiling of a four inch pig.

"Have it as big as you like, more or less. Doesn't change the price very much at all," said Scott. That's one of the clever things about the way he has made it, based on an initial miniature model (see the slideshow below). We opted on a lifesize, fairly big pig.

Roger is currently in Bristol, preparing for a week-long appearance at Source in November (we'll post more on that later). After that he may be making an appearance at Foyles bookshop. He hasn't quite decided. All this fame is quite new.

I'm still amazed at how close to the cartoon the model is. And I still laugh at how Scott brought Roger to the Guardian on the No 73 bus. PW