Poppycock Packaging Art for Orville Redenbacher

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Earlier this year I was hired my the good folks at RPM Connect in Minneapolis to illustrate some Christmas canisters for Orville Reddenbacher’s “Poppycock” brand. The snacks are now available in stores. I picked up my first few canisters in Target but I’m sure other stores will be carrying them as well.

The folks at RPM Connect were great to work with. By the time I was brought onto the project the general concept had already been decided on but the exact style of illustration was still under discussion. They wanted a series of vignettes around the bottom of the can. Something flat, graphic, not very cartoony, and probably monochromatic.  Also, the client had incorporated some snowflakes-and-trees clip art into the mockup and I was asked to try to incorporate those elements into my final illustration. Whatever I did couldn’t deviate too far from that “look”.

Given those parameters, I worked up a few samples to try and nail down a possible style for the illustration:

Normally my work is very cartoony so it was a lot of fun to push myself in another direction and play around with styles and colors I wouldn’t normally use. Ultimately the client chose Option #2 (the one in the upper right) and that’s the style I went with. Here’s the final illustration:

From there the agency added in the logo and other graphic elements. The final result is now available in stores:

“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:

Trifecta-Thumbs-v1

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.

bbq-sauce-bottles

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

Trifecta-Final6v2a

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.

Concept Art: Buffalo Wings

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buffalowingsLast year I was hired by a local agency to develop a packaging icon for a new snack food with a buffalo wings flavor. The project ultimately went in another direction so this is as far as my involvement went. I don’t know if I have permission to mention the product name so I won’t, but the agency has finally given their permission for me to post these concept sketches.

Pizza Math

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pizzaguy.jpg

This is an illustration I completed earlier this year for Trend Enterprises. They wanted a pizza chef to use on the packaging of an educational board game. The game uses pizza slices to teaches kids about fractions.

The game is now being sold in Target stores. I’m told it’s in the learning products section, kinda between magazines and books, next to flash cards. I haven’t seen the final packaging yet but a copy of the game will be shipped to me soon.

Next time I order from Pizza Hut, I’ll have a fun new way to figure out the tip.

EDIT: Finally received my copy in the mail.  Here’s a scan of the final cover:

pizzacover.jpg