I was very happy to be contacted by Bloomberg Markets creative director through a referral by the Bloomberg designer I worked with last summer on a great assignment. He was looking for a metaphorical image to represent the mistreatment of retirement pensions by General Motors. We discussed concepts and such, and I provided the following sketches:
The CD wanted to see a sketch of a "pension" license plate that was beat up and rusty. The plate is a Michigan plate to allude to GM and "motor city."
In the other sketches, I wanted to explore the pensions as dwindling. This sketch of an emptying funds gauge fit the bill, but I think it was too static.
I enjoyed this sketch that worked in both my idea as well as the AD's license plate request. However, the size of the image was going to be small, and certain elements of the sketch would be hard to read. The final art:
Initially, the image was "too clean," and the AD asked that the license plate be dirtier. Upon revision, we were both quite happy with the finished product.This image was a little intimidating for me as I do not usually work with textures, and I do not usually aim for a more realistic representation. However, I was adamant that those two elements were key to this image being successful so I basically jumped in feet first to scanning textures and making brushes in photoshop. I'm very happy with how this image turned out. Thanks to the Bloomberg folks for a great assignment!
Enjoy the Day,
Chris
chris-whetzel.com
