Yo homies! Here's the mural I finished yesterday for GlobalTV's new campaign. I was contacted by Ihuman, a local group I've worked with several times in the past, to create some brand-conscious graffiti-influenced artwork (basically I'm a huge sellout is what I'm saying...jokes) to be used for what was originally to be a GlobalTV billboard. TV moves quickly, so the timeline to get things done was pretty tight! Ihuman also asked that I mentor one of the youth they work with, Joker, during the creation of the mural itself. There were some definite challenges throughout this process — the billboard we were supposed to paint on originally was blocked off by some roof construction crews working in the area, so we had to think on the fly. Luckily, Jonathan, one of the head creatives at Global Edmonton, pulled some strings and got us clearance to paint directly on the GlobalTV headquarters here in E-town! Another challenge was working collaboratively with a new artist — Joker definitely has some experience, but we have pretty different styles, not to mention that it's never easy working off of someone else's sketches, so props to my man Joker for getting it done! Also, on the second day of painting when we were doing a lot of the detail work, the wind picked up a ton, making it hard to work with gradients, a big part of this particular piece. A few last-minute changes to the design (moving the chopper over, making the logo a bit bigger, handpainting the logo for a more hand-made look as opposed to a stencil or vinyl) were accommodated as well, which made things a tiny bit trickier. In the end, everyone at Global loved the new piece, so all was well. I can't help but pick at tiny little things I wish I had the time to touch up, but it was important to make sure the piece was a group effort, not just my own creative impetus, and so I told the annoying little perfectionist in the back of my head to shut up for now. Below, check out the sketches, from my first four initial concepts, to the digitally coloured version of the one they chose (with some revisions regarding legibility and placement), to the final, approved sketch. Shout out to the homies Jonathan, Randall, Rhonda, Phil, Ashley, and everyone else at Global who came out to watch and support! There was a film crew on us for a big portion of the production, so they'll be editing it up right away and airing it soon. Nuff props to the man Touch, a local musician who's group Global commissioned to put a song together for the campaign. Touch was kickin it with us while we painted, and Global shot a mini-music video for the track, which is fire by the way, and should be released soon! Peace, and thanks for rolling through!
