If you’ve ever written a book for a big publisher, you know that most authors have little or no control over the design of the cover. I remember receiving the proof for one particular cover that devastated me. I had spent months working to project my view of the subject and, to me, the cover totally misrepresented the spirit of what I had created.
Lesson learned—in the marketing/promotion cycle, packaging is, many times, as important as the product itself. If there’s a disconnect between the package and the product there’s a good chance the buyer will be disconcerted (unnecessarily).
Meet Kenny Kiernan. He, among other things, illustrates toy industry and consumer packaging for some of the big names: Hasbro, Fisher-Price, Lego, and others—you can only imagine the importance of packaging at that level. I point you to him because he clearly knows what he’s doing—20-plus years at it, he seems to be the type of illustrator who understands the importance of conveying the spirit of the product. Watch how he does it…
He also does character design…
Some animated illustrations…
The illustration at the top began as a Wacom Cintiq 21UX sketch, was vectorized in Adobe Illustration, processed further in Adobe Photoshop then returned to Cintiq for the painting of color, textures and special effects.
The illustration above as it evolved…
An interview from Mojo Nation (toy, game and designer community)…
Kiernan’s portfolio in PDF (3.4MB PDF)…
If you’re interested in toy and game development, take a look at this discussion between Kiernan and Stephen Key, an inventor and intellectual property strategist…
Images used with permission: Copyright Kenny Kiernan 2019, kennyk.com
Posted in JUNE 2020 / Chuck Green is the principal of Logic Arts, a design and marketing firm, a contributor to numerous magazines and websites, and the author of books published by Random House, Peachpit Press, and Rockport Publishers. All rights reserved. Copyright 2007-2020 Chuck Green/Logic Arts Corporation. Contact.
Thoughts?