This piece was commissioned to replicate an existing illustration style from previous labels. The original artist and medium—whether traditional or digital—were unknown. One of Brisbane’s largest advertising agencies requested that the illustration which would be used on a new limited edition packaging label, ensuring it aligned with a series of existing products. Given the project's unclear origins, we concentrated on finding the best stylistic match for the series and initiated the sketching phase.
There was intensive research on macadamias to capture extra detail, along with a thorough review of all available visual resources before starting the initial sketches. Colour indicators were added for client feedback, with a focus on shapes, colours, and composition. Given the tight deadline of one week, much of the foundational process was accelerated.
With tight deadlines approaching, the agency approved moving forward with a full watercolour render as initially planned. This exploratory process yielded very realistic, organic textures to work with, but as the brief evolved with new elements, the sketch and paint sample selections were revised accordingly, as was the deadline.
Referring back to the previous label images, we noticed that finer details were achieved through vector shapes, but the blends were too smooth compared to the rest of the illustration. To resolve this, we worked towards merging the two mediums. This resulted in vectorizing the entire composition for sharp edges while incorporating the existing watercolor illustration for textural layering.
The final illustration was carefully constructed in PSD which allowed for the agency to make a few minor adjustments before placing into the artwork.
Overall this was a hugely rewarding project to work on, achieving an unlikely marriage of traditional and digital illustration for the most satisfying outcome. It was great working with the BCM Team on this one for their client Capilano. Their perseverance, patience and professionalism pushed us to a highly polished end product that we are extremely proud of.
UPDATE: The finished product went on shelves in supermarkets in January 2018.
