People talk a lot about how to achieve more. It’s a sexy topic, full of productivity tips (I’m guilty of this too).
I don’t hear as much mentioned about striving for less. In the past, I used to take every project offered. I said yes to everything during my first year of freelancing. Now I mostly say no. This hasn’t earned me wealth. What it did do- was earn me some peace of mind. Less stress and a touch of happiness. I still get carried away by the crazed perfectionist artist mindset. But that’s fear-based creation and when I happen to catch myself in the grip of it – I stop. Take a sip of water or coffee. Look out the window and breath. Perhaps my days as a yoga enthusiast helped me with that.
That’s a long-winded way of presenting my latest project. After saying no enough times. A yes dropped by.
I recently had the great pleasure of participating in a cool fresh new design. It’s always nice for me to see my illustrations on a real tangible object.
The brief
I was to create a unique illustrated sticker for woosh – A company that creates innovative & smart water stations. The sticker was intended to coat a real live physical station. The station was aimed to suit the needs of schools in a few states. The benefits the company promised – was clean water. A sterilization mechanism to clean personal bottles and provide new ones in high standers for those who wanted to buy it. The design needed to be fresh, cool, and watery. I had no idea states such as Florida (which is tropic and rainy as heck- I lived there so I know this by first hand) needed a clean water device. But I guess pollution gets everywhere and touches on everything. This product met a need and I was happy to be apart of something which combined education, health, and wellness. The holy trinity.
The process
The first thing I do when receiving such a cool project is to sit at my desk in front of a new sketchbook page – and freak out. But after a drink of icy water, my hand began sketching things out (You’ll get thirsty reading this post – I warn you in advance. Go get some cool water now and thank me later).
I went for a few ideas. Some were offered by the art director Elinor Karni. Others were left to my odd and quirky imagination.
Ocean world with large thirsty octopus
Creepy diver dude
Inner mechanism inspired by old Coca Cola ads
Narrowing the options down
This is my favorite part honestly. Because sometimes the clients get overwhelmed. Or tied up to a particular idea they simply can’t shake off. it’s hard to pass the first stage of sketching with a clear cut decision. so this took a while. But at last, we decided on the option of an inner network of pipes and mechanisms. The technical people actually said what I illustrated resembled the inner mechanics. I wondered about that. Especially about the little helpers running inside. I guess maybe my own imagination of life’s rat race came out here. There’s only one little yellow dude in the bottom who looks like he’s taking a break.
Final sketch
The illustration was done on my iPad pro (On Adobe sketch). The final software I used was Adobe illustrator on my good old’ PC desktop. Illustrator allowed pixel perfect results. But I still went back and forth and even now- when I see an uneven line or a corner with a little wobble – I cringe and berate myself. This is the perfectionist artist creeping through. I take a sip of cold water and exhale.
Sketching according to measurements
Front and side view – connecting the stitches of the stickers was really tricky!
I thought it would be cool if the company logo was hidden between the illustrated elements
This is a basic simulation according to the brand colors, previous artwork, and fonts
The final rendering of the illustration
It’s very satisfying to see the illustration on a real-life object
This project was such a treat. I’m sure it’ll be a while before kids actually pass it in the halls of school- Since we are still deep in pandemic days. School is out in many places – But I hope, that when they do come to school, they’ll walk by and get an urge to sip some water. If I’m lucky they’ll even get a little inspired to doodle and take a breath from the frantic race of life.
I still really like this creepy diver dude
Talli Peled 