Here is a little illustration started as a concept for a client but didn’t end up being suitable for what they wanted (which is all part of the process).
Last night it was sitting on my desk and I wanted to finish it off so I did back to the original idea I had for it.
Today, though I wanted to show you all what can be achieved when we go from the original illustration, to the some finals. Keeping in mind there are a bunch of sketches and drawings and ideas that have come BEFORE the first illustration shown here, but this one is handdrawn on special paper and then archive quality pens are used to create the style of the illustration.
So its black on white, i personally like the cleanness of black and white and I sooo plan to have an exhibition of my pen drawings on day (but anyway), I totally “get” that this type of illustration doesn’t really work for a logo or a in a marketing material application unless you were specifically going for a certain look.
However if we use this illustration as the basis for other things we can then take what we have done here and apply a few different styles so it can be used in a bunch of different formats, for a bunch of different applications that can be suitable for different sorts of businesses.
They say “A picture is worth a thousand words”.
A picture is instant it conveys a thought, a feeling, an emotion without necessarily telling the person they should be feeling that. There is a bunch of reasons why you could use illustrations in your marketing materials which I wont go into but basically it can do something for you to work with your copy text to get your message accross without have to EXPLAIN it. It can also just be about having something about it that attracts people, a particular style might appeal to your target audience, if you want them to sit up and take notice of you, it might be worth while to show them something they like to see.
As an artist and illustrator i find it difficult I really would love to be able to provide these types of handcrafted illustrations to my clients, but i know that $ are always a factor for small business especially in these times, and i know its so easy just to wander off and use a product shot that you take with your digital camera or find one a generic stock photo one, but having something different really can make you stand out from the rest, and you can see that the one illustration really has a bunch of different applications that can be used and as I always say whats the point in spending time and money on marketing materials if no one sees you and/or your message does not reach its target audience.
2010 for me will have some exciting things in this area for myself and clients, I hope that this might have you thinking a little more creatively for your business as the new year approaches.
