We are part of a bigger picture
Posted: April 7th, 2010 | Author: Andy Yang | Filed under: portfolio, workflow | 3 Comments »Hello! Hello! again, OiCeers! Apologies for the sudden removal of the last post. Will upload the post as soon as I get approval. Hmmm… Where was I? Oh, Yes! Work opportunities with advertising agencies. Here are some completed works for the Levi’s 501 campaign with BBH some 2 years back i pulled out just for example. There are a lot of creative ideas we illustrators can learn from working with ad agencies. Quite a number of us in OIC were really fortunate to work with them. Hey, some of these guys have actually become our close friends. In fact, we have a couple of them on board the OIC friends/ advisors/ patrons.
Firstly, we get to work on major brands.
Second, we get to exchange ideas with the creative/ art directors and copywriters etc..
Third, we also get to work with other creative people like photographers, digital imaging artists, stylist and the list goes on. Most important thing is we just have to respect each other’s views and be open to ideas. Alright, I am not kidding. There will be hits and misses and there might be some guys out there who is unwilling to share or are just plain nasty, but if shit hits the fan just say “thank you!”, move on and learn from the experience.
Okay, back to the process of the of the 501 ads. Brief was to create elements to portray individual characters that the agency and clients came up with. When the agency came to me, they already had visuals showing roughly what they wanted to achieve. Cost and budget is discussed and agreed. So next up, pre production meeting which involves the agency creatives, traffic, photographer and myself. Idea is discussed and schedule is set. Photography session on models and items commences while I work on the elements and background. Selected photos are shared with clients, retouched and etched out.
Files get to me, I create the layout and bring the photo and illustrations together. Sends to creatives at the agency which will then be shared with the client. This process will go on for numerous times before I send all the hi res files to the retouching studio. From there, the retoucher and art director will do the final tweaks before it is finally uploaded to the clients for approval and released through the media. Wohoo! That’s a lot of work! The more you get into the business of commercial illustration the more I understood that my work is really part of a bigger campaign to make things look great.
Guys! Get your portfolios ready, call the creatives at the ad agencies to share your work. Promote your work and most important, go with an open mind. Finally, these are just my personal experiences so there really is no right or wrong way to go about it. I hope that it will help you guys one way or another in your creative work. Till then!
Happy drawing!
oh so you really removed it..and i thought i was day dreaming
)
well maybe its just me..since its 1.45 am (am i in sleep?) ..but it looks like you have wrote few things again and again (copy paste?
great work btw! how did you draw that delicate design in the background?
nice composition and unique approach!
keep up the good work !
Hey Hey Shyam, yes I did. That’s why I rewrote some stuff from the previous post. Can’t even copy and paste because I lost totally deleted the last post. Ha! The background was hand drawn in Photoshop. Line by line on the guides set up beforehand. Phew!
Andy- thanks for the insightful post
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Actually if you tell me yesterday I can help you recover your post from the trash. That’s why I know you trashed something you posted