Let’s say I get a call from the Art Director of DER SPIEGEL in the afternoon, asking if I can contribute ideas to this week’s topic. “4-Day-Work Week”
Deadline: 12 o'clock (noon) of the following day.
All of the brainstorming phase will play out in my sketchbook. No phone, no radio, no distractions. In the sketchbook, ideas flow more freely. Here I can try out things and find out if they work or not.
This stage is quite messy so to show this to the Art Director, I have to clean this up.
I try to show as many good as possible. Mostly between 10 and 20 idea sketches. The topic is “4-Day-Work Week” but I try to take it on from different angles such as economical worries, viewpoints of employees , employers or families etc.
I hand this in at noon of Day 1. A few hours later I receive the message that this was DER SPIEGEL’s favorite idea.
The same day I also tested some different visual options of the same split-screen idea but went back to the original sketch.
I have only 24 hours to hand in the final illustration! First, I refine the winning idea on my Wacom tablet. This is the basis of what will become the final illustration.
For this step I switch from Photoshop to Affinty Designer to work in clean shapes. I often work minimalistic but tend to add more texture within the last couple of years. Here the client asked for a clean look.
It is Day 2, after a sleepless night, I finished drawing. I am happy with it and I am testing which color palette is most suitable and communicates the message in a clear way. Covers need to work within a few seconds and a color palette can make or break an illustration.
We have a WINNER!
The client decided on a color version.
There is nothing like seeing your idea and artwork on the shelves of every shop or store!
