We chat to illustrator and artist Alex Ram about their latest billboard design.
A simple story of bringing food to share with friends. With a subtle nod to all the Curb Your Enthusiasm fans out there; in this case bringing bread. (And also wine and dessert). A site-specific illustration for the Feirtag Billboard. Kassel, Germany.
What was the project about? How did you find inspiration for this piece?
The project was to create a site-specific illustration for the Feiertag Gallery billboard in Kassel. The brief was quite broad so, for inspiration, I decided to focus on Kassel, a small town in Germany with traditional architecture, local businesses and geographically located to the side of a large forested hill.
What is your design process for something like this?
What was it like working for the client?
I often like to include elements of storytelling within my work, so working with the idea of an experience set in Kassel I decided on a simple story of visiting a bakery for some bread, driving down the hill and meeting friends for a meal together.
What is your design process for something like this?
Once I know the dimensions of the illustration and the elements I’d like to include, I’ll allow myself to be compositionally led and will piece the components together in a puzzle like manner, searching for a composition both pleasing to look at and that allows the viewer to follow the story in a linear way.
From an art-working perspective, I like simplicity within my work as well as the human touch that comes from hand drawn lines. To have both these elements present I’ll use hand drawn linework which I’ll then colour digitally, which I find provides an efficient workflow and flexibility in terms of colour!
What was it like working for the client?
It was great working on this project with Feiertag Gallery as the open-ended brief allowed for a lot a creative freedom and resulted in a piece of work that was both very enjoyable to work on and relevant to the site-specific location.
We love your work and how you have executed this project! Tell us, what do you have lined up for the future?
Lately I’ve been making work exploring mindfulness and maintaining a healthy and balanced lifestyle and my current focus is to expand on my editorial experience. It would be great to continue on this theme and have the opportunity to get some reassuring and positive messages out there!
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