The Pepperspective

1. An old school overhead projector

2. A talented illustrator/typographer

3. Two models (or 1 model + me… I couldn’t scrounge up another volunteer that day)

4. And both an Art Director and Photographer without clear vision but instead open minds and a willingness to try something different. 

I am the art director that came to our photographer, Carl, with a half baked idea of using a projector to incorporate illustration into photography… in an old school way. Lucky for me, I work with some talented folks that also enjoy experimenting with their work. Shelby, one of our illustrators, hand lettered the type and illustrated the dandelions on a transparency on the projector while Yancy and I stood in front of the screen and lined with the illustrations. Carl worked diligently on getting the the perfect amount of light, in order to see us and be able to read the projected type.

I’ve noticed a trend recently. The amount of Color Runs, Paint Parties, Tomato Fights, Mud Festivals and Grape Stompings is on the rise. One might say it’s becoming more clear that people of all ages and backgrounds enjoy getting a little… messy. 

Maybe it’s because so many of us are ruled by calendars — work, coordinating school pick-ups and drop-offs, organizing our lives — that we are looking for more ways to let loose and act like a kid again. 

It’s no secret that, here at redpepper, we like to try new things. Our January Facebook cover photo, one of our latest experiments, featured type and organic shapes built entirely from M&M’s®. (If you’re wondering how many candies we used, we’re revealing that soon on our Facebook page.) It took the dedicated minds and four steady hands of Lindsey and me an entire day to build the large-scale work of art, piece by piece. Our talented photographer Carl was on-site to capture the process, which made for a pretty sweet video (see above). We were also lucky to have such model talent appear in the final cover photo: redpeppers from left to right are Caroline, Ryan and April.

 

 

There were many pieces that seemed really close but something was holding them back… pixelated images, unfinished concepts, shoddy handwork (Come on guys, cutting with a dull blade? Seriously?), weak choice of typefaces and don’t get me started on the use of justified text. 

Then again there were pieces that blew me away. I thought, “Yeah, I wish I did that piece… even if it’s a fake client.” (It made me long for old school assignments.) A couple of the pieces also made me think, “I want that kid on my team, which is a good reflection on Watkins and the future of design.”