Meet Jarrod Prince | The artist behind our new mascot
July 04, 2025
Jarrod Prince is an accomplished director, designer and animator.
With over ten years of experience in the animation industry, he has worked for big-name clients like Apple, Bethesda, Warner Brothers, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and many more.
Recently, Jarrod worked on a very special project for MND Victoria, creating ‘Cornelius the Cornflower’, a friendly, cartoon depiction of the global symbol of hope for MND. The MND Victoria team wanted to create a fun graphic character that we can utilise across our brand (in things such as communications, resources, and merchandise). With Jarrod's help, we found that character in Cornelius.
Right now, Cornelius is most prominent as the face of our Care Gifters program, where generous donors give monthly donations to help provide the reliable funding needed to sustain our services.
A symbol of hope
The blue cornflower (Centaurea cyanus) has a fragile appearance but a hardy nature. Like the cornflower, people living with MND show strength and resilience while faced with the great adversity of this devastating disease.
"I’ve done a lot of design work in the past, and a lot of the characters I’ve designed are really graphic and sort of flat. So I tapped into a lot of that for Cornelius to get the right vibe for him. It was important to make a really fun fella for you guys.
When creating animation, you’ve got to be really invested in the idea. I’ll be thinking about something for a long time, and then if an idea tickles me, I’ll explore it further. The more you explore an idea and think about it, the more it opens up for you. I find the enjoyment is in the construction.”
Jarrod was a natural choice as the artist for this project. He has been part of the MND community for the past 6 years after his dad, Mickey, was diagnosed with the disease in late 2019.
“I think it’s one of the hardest things to ever hear about in life, that you’ve got motor neurone disease. For about a year and a half before his diagnosis, we could see that his health was declining quickly. We were on high alert for a long time. I was in and out of doctors with him. I’d come back from Melbourne to take him to Adelaide to see the doctors about his breathing, which had got really bad. We were just completely puzzled by what was going on with him.
After the diagnosis, things slid down quickly. He went to hospital for a colostomy bag, and he died from the surgery. We were expecting to take him home and probably have another 12 months with him. But in a weird way, it was sort of a blessing even though he was totally stoic throughout the whole thing.
It was a hard thing to watch someone have pieces taken off of them slowly.
Inspired by his dad’s courage and selflessness, Jarrod took on one of MND Victoria’s Adventures with Impact in 2021, trekking Three Peaks in Victoria’s Alpine region and raising over $8,000 by auctioning some original artworks.
“The hike was amazing. I had such a good time. It was eye-opening to be around people who were affected by MND and still being affected by it. In some way, I had some gratitude to be out on the other side of it and doing what I could to help out. I’m really interested in doing another Adventure down the track to raise more funds.
Since Dad passed away, my life has been an odyssey. It's been crazy for all different reasons but that's what happens when the foundation of your family is removed.
I've had to fill in for him in some regard. When a parent passes away, you realise the hole that they leave and how much they did to keep the fabric of stuff together. That’s what I’ve realised. And I’ve got nothing but respect for anyone who’s just trying to keep a family together.”
You can check out Jarrod’s work at www.jarrodprince.com or on his Instagram.
If you’re interested in getting your hands on one of our exclusive ‘Cornelius the Cornflower’ t-shirts, consider joining our Care Gifters community.
And if you’d like to take on your own Adventure with Impact, see our upcoming adventures here.
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