Project: Bristol Pound
Services: Digital Illustration
Year: 2018
Bristol Pound
One of my illustration has been selected as one of the winners for the Bristol Pound 2018 design competition and is now printed on all £B20 Bristol Pound's banknotes!
In my design the SS Great Britain is elevated in the sky by a delicate wave, almost floating, ready for new adventures. The water is used as a medium to tell the story of the ship, with the aid of words. The sky is pink/red, from the saying used by mariners “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning”. Here I’d like the viewer to decide what that means, it could either be a morning with rain coming or it could be an evening with a sunny day ahead.
The judges loved the contemporary ideas in this design. They agreed that the SS Great Britain elevated into the sky is a powerful image and the writing in the water is a lovely effect.
Press:
Bristol Post – Design Winners Announced For City's New Notes
Bristol Pound – Winners Announced
Bristol Pound – Meet the Artists: Kiwani Dolean
Bristol Pound – Meet the new Bristol Pounds
Bristol Post – Bristol Pound Competition Winners Announced
Business Live – Bristol Pound: City currency initiative offers interest-free loans to boost local businesses
La Stampa – Il disegno di una giovane di Sarre scelto per la Sterlina di Bristol (IT)
Aostasera – Una digital designer dietro al nuovo volto dei Bristol Pound, la moneta fatta in casa (IT)
Meseconomia – El Bristol Pound presenta els dissenys dels seus nous bitllets (ES)
The creation of the illustration for the Bristol Pound (timelapse)
My Artistic Process
My process for this illustration was quite engaging. I started with some research on the theme to get some inspiration, exploring Bristol's maritime history and locations online and offline. I then sketched a few ideas and concepts on paper, landing on the SS Great Britain – which also had a special meaning for me, as I saw it for the first time shortly after moving to Bristol and was fascinated deeply by it.
Once I was happy with my paper sketches and I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted, I took my iPad and Apple Pencil and went into the digital phase. I constructed my illustration with different layers, which gave me a lot of space to experiment and move things around. The artwork took about 2-3 hours, and I particularly enjoyed writing the story of the boat in the waves and then colouring the sky with watercolour digital brushes. It was a very organic process as I was experimenting with textures and colours until the end, and I greatly enjoyed it.
