The Drawing Book: Illustration gets noticed

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The Drawing Book

The Illustration studio that connects the difference in every client brief to the individuality of its illustrator.

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The Drawing Book // Latest Campaigns & News

trees

July 3, 2009

Otto and Christer help Lowe, Sydney win the Gold UNDPI

The New York Festivals International Advertising Awards, now in its 52nd year, has announced its 2009 United Nations Department of Public Information Winners. And Lowe's online campaign for Genesis Energy has taken out Gold.

Drawing Book Photorealists, Otto and Christer illustrated all the trees, animals and backgrounds. Each tree had to be illustrated through several stages of maturity in order to give the site its interactivity via each member's tree growth. We're very proud of the boys efforts in this new digital media as they had to step out of their comfort zone of working for printed media and learn all of the web's unique challenges.

Go to Tree People website»

icons

July 2, 2009

And we still can't get the song out of our head!

Chris Wahl put his incredible storytelling and characterisation to 303's latest campaign for Sakata.

View Chris's illustration and the final TVC by clicking this link or on the image left»

icons

July 1, 2009

Gerad Taylor stars in East meets West

Different cultures have their own idiosyncratic artforms. M&C Saatchi needed an illustrator who could create poster images that were synonomous with Canada and India. After several Pints and a Vindaloo Gerad Taylor stepped up to the challenge.

View Gerad's pencils and final illustrations by clicking this link or on the image left»

icons

June 24, 2009

Big shout out to all scraperboard suppliers

When he found out the government had banned the import of scraperboard into Australia Phil Holliday rolled up his sleeves, got out his pen and magnifying glass and put his head down. 2 weeks later Australia Post had their Sydney Swans commemorative currency.

Click here or on the image left to view Phil's illustrations for the Sydney Swans»

icons

June 18, 2009

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - Da Vinci

If you were asked to do this many icons for one of Australia's biggest brands and they only gave you one little line to do it you'd be forgiven if you dropped your composure. Not the case with Roman Stolz.

Click here or on the image left to view Roman's work for Woolworths»

TVC

June 11, 2009

Raw lines give Ken Taylor no where to hide

A series of detailed blue pen illustartion are not what you'd expect from seasoned rock poster illustrator Ken Taylor, but the chance to work on an animated TV commercial lured him in to help DDB Melbourne's latest campaign for APIA.

Click to view Ken's illustrations and stills from the TV campaign»

Firsts

June 4, 2009

Ken Taylor rocks out the Razor's Edge.

A daunting commission from Clemenger Sydney on behalf of Gillette spawned some brilliant work from Ken Taylor -master of any brief asking for grunt and growl.

Click to view Ken's pencils, logo design and to view the website»

Monster children

May 22, 2009

Alison Wallace, tames a classroom of little monsters.

Alison was commissioned to do one of many things she does best, turn children into mischevious monsters. The campaign was commissioned on behalf of Optus by M&C Saatchi Sydney. We are so proud of Al's work and the way n which she went about it that we have posted the process here.

Click to see Al's samples, pencils work in progress and final art»

bigpond

May 11, 2009

Joe Whyte, the man with the nous for music fashion.

Joe Whyte helped BWM get a great idea through approvals for Telstra Bigpond's current campaign for their wide range of downloadable music by producing 3 layouts that carried the concept beautifully.

Click to see Joe's illustrations side by side with the final ads by BWM Sydney»

Sony

May 4, 2009

Gerad Taylor commissioned to illustrate 50s ads for future savvy Sony

Whybin TBWA in Singapore commissioned Gerad Taylor to work up two original images to depict people that were ahead of their time. The brief was a beautiful one with a really nice cheek to it and also one that allowed Gerad to deliver exactly what was need whilst working in his element.

Click to see the complete images side by side with the pencils that preceded them»

ChunkyMan

April 27, 2009

Chris Wahl Lends a Working Hand To Campbell's

Clemenger BBDO Sydney has pushed the boundaries of Soup advertising again. This time they parodied the action hero of the golden age of advertising to sell Campbell's Chunky soup. If you click the image left or the link below you'll see why Chris Wahl is the right man for the job when it comes to conveying comic style action.

Click to see stills from TVC side by side with the storyboards»

PinkPenguins

April 15, 2009

Don't think of Pink Penguins!

Optus's latest campaign featuring Pink rockin' out with an entourage of Penguins launched last week. To view the great storyboard frames illustrated by likeness extrodinaire Chris Wahl click on his illustration of Pink to the left or the link below.

Click to see stills from TVC side by side with the storyboards»

Whale song

April 9, 2009

Rob Elliott plays Whale Whisperer for Optus

When we first read M&C Saatchi Sydney's script for Optus's Whale song concept we couldn't wait to see what the storyboards would look like. Then when we saw Rob Elliott's storyboards we couldn't wait to see what the final TVC would look like. Congratulations and thank you to the creative team who worked on Whale Song. It looks great.

Click to see stills from TVC side by side with the storyboards»

Behind Crimson Eyes

April 1, 2009

Joe Whyte makes music tangible

Behind Crimson Eyes, from Melbourne, Commissioned Joe Whyte to produce the Album Artwork for their new self-titled album, out now on Roadrunner records.

Click to see the full piece and the pencil prior »

CREATEAwards

March 20, 2009

Chris Wahl spawns 15 super Heroes and Villians

To promote this years Creative awards Desktop magazine asked us to come up with a Super Hero or Villian for the 15 categories. Characters' appearance, costume and super powers were designed to reflect specific roles in the Advertising and Design industries.

Click to see which one reflects you! »

fleet

January 20, 2009

Otto steps up to deliver water, majesty and beauty

The balance of realism and hyperbole in photorealistic illustration can be extremely hard to navigate unless you're in the hands of an expert. That's why P&O commissioned Otto to create a unique image to represent them in the best possible light.

Click to view more »

workshop

January 19, 2009

When you want to add a retro flavour call in Russell

One of the first campaigns for 2009 involved creating over 30 characters and accessories for a Choose Your Own Future online game commissioned by BMF on behalf of the Commonwealth Bank

Click to view more »

workshop

December 19, 2008

Christer actually enjoys a Christmas Card commission

When 303 commissioned us to do a Christmas card for Harle Davidson we arrived at the brief with the usual unease, but left with unbridled interest.

Click to view more »

Shark

November 19, 2008

Burger attracts giant shark to Bondi

When Otto's poster of a giant shark in Bondi was released thousands of people ran screaming into Oporto shops. To see Otto's pencils and the final art as it was commissioned by Frontier Media click the image to the left or the link below.

Click to view more »

Kitten

November 7, 2008

Rob Coady draws the cutest ass kickin' kittens

When Mojo first briefed us on the kitten campaign we were excited from the words, "we open on..." This campaign was one where at every step of the way the promise of a really entertaining final production kept snowballing. Click the storyboard by Rob Coady to the left to see stills from the final TVC side by side with Rob's storyboards and then scroll down to watch the full production on YouTube.

Click to view more »

emma

November 6, 2008

Character master Chris Wahl creates Emma

Chris Wahl loves coming up with characters for just about any purpose our client can imagine. This time he put down his usual box of Zombie, Ghoul, Bikini and Werewolf tools and mustered up all the sugar and spice he could find to create Emma, the friendliest, most approachable, helpful character we've seen from him yet. Click either below or the picture to the left to meet Emma.

Click to meet Emma »

tram

November 3, 2008

Frantz Kantor masters his most ambitious medium yet

The best thing about working with 3 Drunk Monkeys is the concept behind the brief. Almost always they challenge us to solve a visual problem that we haven't enountered before. This was especially the case when they asked us to create several illustrations that would transform a Melbourne tram into a highly decorated Indian bus to promote the current India vs Australia Cricket test series.

Click to view the campaign »

jenwills

October 28, 2008

Drawing Book Studios... lucky enough to have Jennifer Wills

It is with great excitement and anticipation for the future that The Drawing Book announces that Jennifer Wills is now a member of the team. It has been 2 years since we sowed the seed in Jennifer's mind that we'd love to have her and finally she has come aboard!

Jennifer brings to The Drawing Book over 6 years of Art Buying experience at DDB Sydney, as well as the time she spent working in image licensing before then. She has hands on experience from the client side of the Illustration industry and has spent many late hours encouraging our illustrators through tight timings and ambiguous briefs. She is cool as a cucumber under pressure, but posesses the firey belly of the astrological ram that makes great things happen where ever she chooses to apply herself.

Jennifer tells us she is excited about stepping onto a steep learning curve, but we feel the same in regards to the one she has already put us on.

Bangalore

October 21, 2008

Gerad Taylor gives Australia a little bit of Bollywood

With the current Australian Cricket series against India came a campaign for FoxSports exclaiming that if you couldn't get to Bangalore Stadium then FoxSports would bring the game to you. Visually the 3 Drunk Monkeys wanted to reinforce that message by commissioning Bollywood style posters that would extol the game details just like Australians imagined the game might be promoted in India.

Click to view the campaign »

Shakes and Kevvie

October 15, 2008

John Shakespeare holds the front page

Today even Karl Stefanovic's attentention was arrested by John Shakespeare's "picture" of Kevin Rudd that featured on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald today. It was Shakespeare's 3D caricature of Kevin Rudd as Santa Claus that the morning show was drawn to

Click to view »

October Desktop

October 3, 2008

11 Drawing Book illustrators featured in Desktop Magazine's October issue

Congratulations to Chris Burns, David James, Chris Wahl, John Shakespeare, Jason Paulos, Frantz Kantor, Allison Wallace, Andrew Burchett, Gerad Taylor, David Carroll and Otto for being represented so well in this months Desktop Magazine. Thank you to Jo Spurling and her team for drawing attention to these brilliant illustrators whom we are so proud of.

Click to view »

Citibank

September 16, 2008

Citibank character from Shakespeare with Love

Love Communications has just launched a campaign to promote a credit card from Citibank that helps pay itself off. Depicting this friendly card as a character with personality lead them to the Drawing Book Studio's 3D characterizer, John Shakespeare.

Click to view »

Arnotts

September 12, 2008

David James commissioned to add a world of character

GPY&Rs latest campaign for Arnotts has just gone to air using real characters to demonstrate flavour. Thank you to Dean Mortenson for commissioning David James to do what he does best in order to get this campaign through the client, research and finally on air. Click below to see David's illustrations side by side with the final product.

Click to view »

latina

August 29, 2008

Leon the lovestruck chameleon

Otto was commissioned by Singleton Ogilvy & Mather to create a chameleon named Leon that loved Nestea with the passion of Peppe Le Pieu. We've posted two versions of Leon so that you can see just how brilliant Otto is when he is commissioned to portray an animal with human traits. Thanks to Gordon Higgins and Marty Bohte for such a great commission that put Otto in his element.

Click to view »

latina

August 22, 2008

Latina Pasta adopts family of vegetables

Mark Poulier from GP Y&R Melbourne worked with Russell Tate to define 6 little vegetables with enough character to persuade kids to eat their greens. The packs boasting these 6 happy characters are now on shelf as modelled by Russell's daughter Charlotte in the thumbnail to the left. Click on Charlotte's photo for more information and pictures of all 6 characters.

Click to view »

Grazia

August 10, 2008

Chris Wahl and Brandshop give birth to a beautiful bouncy Black and White TVC

The Brandshop Sydney commissioned Chris Wahl to storyboard up the first TV campaign for the new women's magazine GRAZIA. Melissa Turkington and Amy Wright needed a pack of beautiful women drawn and that's when Chris started to get excited. Click the thumbnail to the left to see Chris's storyboard next to Melissa and Amy's beautifully shot TVC.

Click to view »

Optus

August 8, 2008

Otto raises family of Gallahs for Optus

M&C Saatchi Sydney commissioned Otto to create a family of Gallahs in a photorealistic style but the trick was to define each member of the family's personality. Otto did a great job of portraying a proud father, doting mother and belligerant Emo son. Click the thumbnail to the left to see them all.

Click to view the whole family »

Optus

July 22, 2008

Frantz rolls out the time bandits for Optus

Frantz Kantor was put in his element thanks to M&C Saatchi Sydney's creative team who commissioned him to illustrate a cheeky elephant and his pair of raccoon accomplises. Click below to see more and for the creative team credits

The ads »

Oak Pinup

July 15, 2008

Gerad Taylor's 60s Pin Up girl for OAK

Ian Masek and Lucy Edison commissioned a Pin Up girl to leverage OAK's proud 60's heritage as a way to promote the product's latest competition.

see more »

Smiths

June 24, 2008

TVC and Storyboard comparison

Now thanks to Xtreme Information's meticulous archives we can show you our storyboard artists work next to the actual TVC as soon as the actual campaign has gone live to air. Hopefully this will help more people see what great work our storyboarders are capable of because up until now too often the talent of the storyboarders has been invisible to most people.

This week we feature Rob Coady's storyboards and a recent Smiths campaign.

click to see Rob's storyboards and stills from the TVC in a side by side comparison. »

Aapt

June 10, 2008

Kantor and Holliday, a couple of characters

We are extremely grateful to Leo Burnett for putting so much character into AAPT's advertising, specifically Art Director Kieran Antill.

see more »

Rabo

May 31, 2008

Rob Coady helps another campaign go to air

We love it when we see great ideas on the TV. Especially when what went to air is so close to what we were briefed to draw. That's when we know that we helped the Art Director's idea survive research.

see more »

Rocky Russell

May 29, 2008

6 Million Dollar Illustrator

A fortnight ago illustrator Russell Tate ran the half marathon.

Breaking the stereotype that illustrators stay locked in the dark room of their studio Russell completed the entire 22 km course in a time of 2hrs and 4 seconds.

Just look at the photo, not only has he broken the stereotype, but he did it with a smile. In fact he looks much happier than his portrait he displayed on the singlet he specifically designed for the day.

He has since said though that he has been relieved to have been kept busy since the race on one of our largest campaign commissions as it has given his legs a much needed rest from pounding the pavement. Stay tuned in a month to see this campaign when it's posted here.

Singlet artwork

Here is the front and back of Russell's singlet complete with self portrait and caricatured cussing.

TAB towers

May 15, 2008

TAB promotes Euro 2008 with Christer Eriksson

This month will see TAB venues adorned with Christer Eriksson's incredible Towers image.

Art Director Dean Mortenson briefed us to execute an image that portrayed the massive hype and popularity of the event by depicting a Euro game played on the largest scale imaginable.

click to see the image in greater detail »

John Shakespeare

May 7, 2008

Taking samples of artists' work off the website for presentations

To clients presenting illustrator samples from the website to clients. The easiest way to take work from our new site is through screen grabs. Just open up the image you like from the thumbnail and follow these steps for either mac or PC.

For Mac users just hold down:

Command + Shift + 4

Then, click and hold with your mouse and select the area of the image and release. The image will be instantly saved onto your desktop.

For PC users press keys:

Alt + Print Screen

This will take a screenshot of the currently selected window, not the entire screen like the normal screenshot function. This allows you to target that specific window that you have open and nothing else. No more cropping those screenshots to grab the content you were after. The image will be instantly saved in your clipboard file or on the desktop.

click to see more of John Shakespeare's work »

TRex

April 19, 2008

It used to be the way that Christer, Gerad, Otto and Chris were known to only have ink in their veins, but long before today they embraced the digital age. In their May issue Australian Creative talks to our photo-realistic illustrators who have taken this pixel injection and are now taking on the kinds of briefs previously reserved for retouchers. Check your local newsagent for the double page spread.

see more »

Mar 26, 2008

Los Fugitivos

The first time the imaginations of Drawing Book, Red Box and Song Zu were let loose they ran to Mexico resulting in a bloody bedlam that left one man and his big bazooka standing.

From Mexico he fled to Germany for the plentiful porn and large lagers. What he didn’t expect was a crazed granny on a snail and a new born nazi to take him on. Watch it then vote for who goes free next time.

see more »