Anne Fontaine Holiday Postcard!

Before spring swings into full bloom, I wanted to share another postcard I created for french fashion designer Anne Fontaine! I had a great time working with them on a Bastille Day postcard and was happy to try my hand at it again for a holiday-season themed mailer!

I was provided with photos of one of their new winter coats & bags, gloves, belt, a neck ruff, and a pair of cute booties. They wanted a Karlie Kloss sort of look for the model, and the backdrop this time was to be another iconic french location like the Arc de Triomphe or the Pont Alexandre III bridge!

For my sketches, I actually spent a pretty long time looking for reference images of these locations that weren't your typical straight-on tourist views--I wanted to show a little more depth of space. (in the process I ended up looking through a lot of flickr accounts and french blogs!)

The Arc de Triomphe background was chosen, and we ended up changing the pose and the hair a bit. (it became sort of an inverse-pose of the previous Bastille Day postcard!)

When I was creating my color sketch, I couldn't decide between a purpley daytime background or a cool blue nighttime background (with or without snow!) so I left it up to the client. Before I finalize an image, I like to get the colors juuuust right, so I don't have to worry about changing them later! In the end, the snowy daytime background was chosen and I'm happy with the result! (but I still like the nighttime setting too!)

Thanks again to my contact Christina Ramirez-Madisson and Anne Fontaine for the lovely job!

The Secret of 50 Berkeley Square!

A fun one for MentalFloss magazine's Jan/Feb issue! No nuns this time, but there IS a haunted house! 50 Berkeley square is a townhouse believed to be haunted as far back as the mid 1800's--the reclusive owner at the time let the place fall apart, and there are tales of ghosts there that have actually frightened visitors to death!

The article is about whether the mysterious owner, Mr. Myers, was actually the inspiration for Dickens' Miss Havisham from Great Expectations. My AD wanted an image of a modern person exploring a decayed & spooky Georgian style townhouse, preferably with some nice blue/yellow colors. I thought it'd be nice to use a flashlight as the image's light source, and an interesting graphic element.

Sketches

Despite its dark past, if you visit 50 Berkeley Square today, you will find the Maggs Bros. Antiquarian Booksellers housed inside! It looks pretty cute to me.

Thanks again to my AD Winslow Taft for the fun & spooky assignment!