Project: CandyCart
This project was inspired by an assignment from School of Motion's Illustration For Motion course to conceive creative for a fictional app that provides mobile service delivering home movie snack needs within an hour, akin to a GrubHub service. The process started with a creative brief describing the brand and a voice-over script upon which to base 3 primary illustrated frames or scenes. Providing a client with 3 storytelling styles (aka "idea sandwich") helps to heighten a collaborative process.
01: Concept
A word tree is a great way to extract and connect ideas through association based on a key concept. I highly recommend the website MindMeister.
02: Previs
Using Pinterest.com, I like to scout out inspiration closely aligned with the aesthetic and feel of the brief or idea to model from with regards to shapes stroke variation, texture, and overall design as well as color palette ideas.
03: Storyboards
03:01. The three idea types are categorized as Literal, Abstract, and Safe. This board concept supports the literal version of a brief, which is somewhere between abstract and safe.
03:02. Probably the most creatively freeing idea type when using the 'idea sandwich' approach is the abstract, shown here.
03:03. Ah, the safe version - based on a straightforward point-by-point brief description from the client. This is the version I chose to go with on this project to reach the widest audience.
04: Stylize
Time to start color blocking. At this stage, minor changes can still find their way in with regard to secondary palettes or other on-the-fly adaptations. As long as it still honors the storyboard, small variations in line or placement aren't a big deal and often serve to help enhance the art and support the idea beyond the rigidity of storyboards, which act more as a guideline.
05: Final Artwork
As you can see the final illustrations are not 100% to the storyboard. This is where artistic license comes in. As you work/draw, some small changes flow organically through your mind and pen peripherally, feel right, or feel better. Theory vs. practice don't always align 1:1 with creative, similar to film scripts/boards vs decisions made on set during a take, by the director or the actors.