Behold, another set of pitch boards for a commercial that wasn’t awarded. You might be thinking, “Wow, you had a bit of a losing streak, huh?” Actually I pull these samples arbitrarily from past work as it “ripens” for posting, so there really was no streak per se, but I think it’s also a learning opportunity for anybody less experienced: a LOT of hard work never sees the light of day, and that’s just the reality of the business. For me, it’s ok, I’m paid well to draw well, and if something actually gets picked up, it’s just icing on the cake. Also, often pitches are accepted/rejected based on factors that go well beyond the merits of the creative- for instance, budget constraints or deadlines or prior developments. Sometimes it’s just a matter of taste. All of that stuff is out of my hands- I can only do as good a job as possible with the concepts I’m given and creative compelling visual narratives.
Back to the boards. These boards were pitched for a foundation that offers academic/athletic scholarships or something to young people who demonstrate proficiency in mathematics, music, arts, and sciences. I can’t quite remember the details of all that but suffice to say the object of the spot was to create an exciting visual representation of the potential for young brains to excel given the proper support and training- all tied together with professional soccer players demonstrating their teamwork and skills- creating a synthesis of achievement and success- a result of hard work and determination in all aspects of life, mental and physical. Wow, I should be writing these commercials.
Anyway, the visual hook is that the athletes and students themselves are fundamentally composed of iconic molecules that represent distinct fields of study/aspects of education. So, how the hell do you draw that? It’s not easy, but my technique here consisted of drawing the people normally first, and then creating appropriate “brushes” using my digital prowess, and tracing over my earlier linework, which resulted in a fairly appealing series of images. Check ’em out!
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