Parasites! (Advertising Illustration)

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FleaWormTick-noballoon2

(Copyright © 2009 by Cedric Hohnstadt. All rights reserved.)

Earlier this summer I was hired by PreFurred Pet Care, a small business on the west coast, to help out with an ad campaign. They had seen an old piece from my portfolio depicting a cartoon flea and tick having a picnic on top of a dog’s head. They were wondering, could I sell them the image for use in a postcard campaign? After looking through my files I discovered I had already sold all the rights to that particular image, but I did offer to create a custom illustration just for them and their specific needs.

The client liked that idea and decided to do their own twist on the picnic idea. They would use a stock photo of a sleeping dog, and above his head they wanted to place a cartoon “dream” balloon containing some parasites getting ready to eat him. I liked the idea and did the above illustration. Here’s how it looked inside the balloon:

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“Trifecta” Packaging Illustration

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Recently I was hired by a client to develop a packaging illustration for a new brand of barbeque sauce called “Trifecta”. The illustration will be used on the label of the bottles as well as on t-shirts, posters, and other marketing materials.

In horse racing a “trifecta” is the first, second, and third place finish in a race. When it comes to barbeque sauce the client thought it could also stand for the three primary types of meat that people grill: beef, chicken, and pork. So I was asked to come up with a humorous illustration that would depict jockeys riding a cow, a pig, and a chicken. It was a fun idea with a great visual. I enjoyed playing around with it.

Here’s the rough thumbnail ideas I submitted:

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The client chose sketch C and then I worked up a detailed sketch. I’m an illustrator, not a graphic designer, so my job was only to draw the picture. Someone else will be hired to design graphic layout around it.

While sketching it occurred to me that since people read from left to right it would look better visually if we flipped the image. Here’s the detail sketch I submitted:

Trifecta-Sketch1bWhen it came time to color the image I took a trip to the grocery store and purchased several brands of BBQ sauce so that I could study the color schemes that were used. I’m not an expert in the psychology of color but I’ve been told that certain colors tend to make certain types of food appear more appetizing. For instance, dairy products like yogurt and milk often use white and blue in their packaging. Barbeque sauce, I found out, is almost always packaged in some combination of five “dark and warm” colors: red, orange/brown, yellow, black, and white.

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I figured there must be a good reason for this so I incorporated a similar color scheme into the final art:

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The final illustration was created as vector art in Illustrator for three reasons: First, so that it could be enlarged indefinitely (i.e. on banners and posters) without any loss in quality. Second, I wanted to keep the art humorous but give it a more modern, streamlined look. And third, I just like working in Illustrator every now and again.

Trifecta barbeque sauce is not on the market yet but the client has given me permission to share the work that I did for him here on the blog. As soon as its available I’ll be sure to post a link to the Trifecta website as well as an image of the final packaging.

Download My Updated PDF Portfolios

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Along with posting new work on my website and on this here blog, I also make samples of my work available as a free PDF download for clients to print and keep on file. The last time I updated the PDF was in January 2008. A lot has changed since then and an update was long overdue.

Instead of one portfolio there are now three portfolios to choose from: Character Design, Illustration, and Toy Design. Collect all three!

Bob Ostrom’s Illustration Tutorial

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bobostrom

(Artwork by Bob Ostrom. Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.)

Long-time illustrator Bob Ostrom has recently posted an excellent tutorial describing how he does his work. While you’re at it, don’t forget to browse his portfolio and blog as well. Great stuff!

Toy Design: Jungle Animals

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jungle-elephantturns

Here’s one more project I did for DecoPac. It’s part of a series of jungle animal cake toys that were ultimately never produced.

The lion’s tail was meant to act like a lever which, when pushed, would cause his mouth to open and emit a “roar” noise from a tiny speaker.

I was asked to make the elephant sit on the cake as if he were giving himself a bath in some water, so we only needed to see the upper half of his body.

Ultimately the client went another route but it was still great fun to work on!

Toy Design: Monsters Vs. Aliens

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monstersaliens

Here’s yet another toy design I worked on for novelty cake supplier DecoPac. It’s a cake tie-in for the DreamWorks movie Monsters vs. Aliens. It’s a little hard to tell from the photo but it’s a figurine of the Insecto character and two plastic finger rings featuring the characters B.O.B and Missing Link. The background is a concept painting from the movie designed to stand up behind the figurine.

At the time the movie was still in production and the trailer hadn’t been released yet, so all I was given to work with was some turnarounds of the characters and a concept painting of the giant Insecto character crashing through the Golden Gate bridge. Matter of fact, I still haven’t seen the movie.

Here’s the concept art I submitted, and a photo of the final cake design. One thing you’ll notice is that the arms were grouped together on the final toy. I suppose this was a safety concern, to make it harder for little kids to bite them off and choke on them:

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