Hey guys,
hope you're all doing fine! First of all, I'd like to share my latest commission with you! Nissan asked me to create a visual for their race in Berlin that happened last weekend. Here's the animated version!
If you're interested in some behind-the-scenes progress shots, I'll share some below! 👇
Print Flash Sale
On Monday, I will open my shop again. This time, I decided to only do a flash sale for 7 days, until I take the shop offline again. I need to focus on my work and projects, so I will reserve a specific time for packing and shipping orders.
If you are a paid member on Patreon, you will get early access to the shop on Friday! Please watch out for the post in 2 days if you're interested in a print, as some may be sold out quick. You will also get 15% off your entire order for being a Patron!
What to expect: I will have remaining Singing Doors Prints for you, and also a timed artist proof version of my artwork for Pacific Drive. The Pacific Drive one will come in 2 sizes, and after the 7 days I won't do any re-runs again.
I'll share the link and password around 5-6 PM CEST on Friday!
Nissan Formula E
Alright, back to my Formula-E artwork. This one had a really short deadline, and I think it's always interesting too look into short term processes. How to come up with ideas fast, how to get results in just a few days?
NISMO's (Nissan Motorsport) social media agency reached out to me, because they liked my isometric work. They also saw Azahi's Workshop on my Instagram, and asked if I could do such a garage scene in an isometric view, with their team and cars. They also sent along a ton of pictures from the pit lane, and the cars.
Such a briefing is always incredibly helpful, as you instantly know what direction to go for. If you're unsure, keep shooting questions at clients. Very often, they realize that they don't really have a direction in their mind, and that's when you need to step in and be not only an artist, but also a kind of Art Director for your client.
Not necessary here, so after negotiating the budget and timeline, I made a ridiculously rough scribble (just for me, not to show the client). I only needed this ugly thumbnail to establish my artwork concept, as the basics were very much in my head already: a garage, two racing cars, and a busy team working around them.
For the roof of the garage, I had the idea to give it the shape of the Brandenburg Gate, as a hint for the Formula E to be guests in Berlin. Here's a more detailed scribble I then sent to the client:
This is actually the second scribble, after getting some feedback. For example, first one car stood in the garage head first, and they don't park cars that way. For the car models, my friend Jacques helped me out with a quick 3D model. It saved me a lot of time, as I directly had the complex shapes in the correct perspective.
During the process, the agency creatives decided that the Brandenburg Gate idea wouldn't work perfectly, and asked me to replace it with these cherry tree details. I loved the idea, however it was a little more work to do now, given all the details. Here you see the car already in the coloring process, while the roof is re-scribbled to get feedback. This is after around 16-18 hours in.
The cherry branches and petals caused me to go for a nightshift, but I think it's been worth it as the flying petals later added a great touch to the animation.
Including animation and sound, this took me around 32 hours total, which were squeezed into around 5 working days. This doesn't sound too crazy, but this doesn't really take the planning, thinking and whole "brainwork" process you do while you're actually not directly working into account. You kind of indirectly work on this while you eat, watch a movie, or sit on the toilet, but it's time that doesn't land on the timetracker or invoice.
Overall, I'm really happy with the result - hope you like it as well!
That's it from me for today! Read you soon, cheers!Stefan