Sunday, January 20, 2013

Wine Labels for Astor Wines & Spirits

 
I am happy to announce that the wines I had been working on are finished and on sale at Astor Wines & Spirits in New York City!  You can also order them online at www.astorwines.com.

Since I spent so much time working on these I thought I'd take you through my process.  The art director had already chosen the names, inspired by her love of music.  My task was to illustrate and design labels that speak to the native region and tell a little bit about its origin to its buyers.

Sometimes I'll start by jotting down words and ideas then see what visuals I come up with.  That was the case for Zampoñas.  For Sios, I pretty much thought of the concept right from the beginning and went straight to drawing for that one.  Here are some sketches I sent out.  All of these have a connection between indigenous people from the area and Zampoñas, which are instruments traditionally played by two people (as one alone does not contain the full scale).

They went for the mask with the Zampoñas headdress (top, far right).  Next is the finalized drawing, inking, digitizing, adding fonts, etc.:



The dimensions of the labels changed and they wanted to tone down the saturation of colors so it was adjusted accordingly.  As I mentioned earlier, Sios was pretty straight forward.  The traditional headdress is so beautiful on its own that we just went with that and added a border around it.  And that sums it up!  I hope this gives you an excuse to go out and get a bottle!







Sunday, January 13, 2013

Ivy Queen: La Diva, La Caballota, La Potra

Ivy Queen is one of the leading ladies of the Reggaeton scene.  I admire her for her strength and resilience in a genre dominated by men.  Her style changes frequently, constantly redefining herself but never changing her love for the youth and the Hood.  It is for all these reasons that I thought it was only appropriate for her to be my next portrait.

For this particular piece I wanted to establish a heavier presence of urban and street art as well as a Caribbean cultural vibe-- giving a nod to the music she puts out.

Here are some videos and music that influenced me for this project and represents Ivy Queen's musical career:

Old School Reggaeton, Live - Ivy Queen
In The Zone- Ivy Queen ft. Wyclef Jean
La Vida Es Asi - Ivy Queen


More portraits coming your way soon!