This past summer I was asked to illustrate the cover of Business in Vancouver’s Ad Pages directory. The directory is an annual publication listing the suppliers to the creative industry in the lower mainland. It’s a valuable resource that is seen by nearly everyone in the industry so of course I agreed to do it.

The cover illustration was to accompany the feature article about outdoor guerrilla marketing. The article referenced Telus’ flamingo campaign of a few years back, which saw 10,000 plastic pink flamingos popping up one morning on Vancouver streets. As well, the article talked about the conventional use of billboards for outdoor advertising.

As I developed my sketch, I wanted to capture the feel of morning in the city as the flamingos emerge from the mist. I also wanted to include both the plastic flamingos and the billboards in the image. But the fact that the flamingos exist at ground level, while the billboards are up high meant I would have to use a sharply skewed  perspective. As soon as I began sketching I saw a rhythm develop in multiples of both objects. I also saw the opportunity to use the billboards to integrate type within the illustration.

To draw several billboards in perspective would have been a great challenge, so I decided to use SketchUp, Google’s free 3d rendering software. I downloaded and modified an existing billboard model and distributed several copies in space. I then exported the wireframe to illustrator where I rendered the billboards using vector shapes.

The flamingos were created with vector shapes and multiplied over and over until a pleasant composition was created. Extensive use of masks and overlaid textures were used in the background. One of the textures is a florid wallpaper pattern that is barely noticeable.