The Desert Botanical Goddess
Illustration Project
I was initially tasked to create a promotional poster in a sketched/pen design for a location in Arizona. I then digitalized it for color when the Arizona Citizens for the Arts organization needed a graphic illustration for their awards ceremony through a competition, which I won.
The purpose of the poster is to advertise Arizona's biodiversity and its connection
with Arizonans.
Field Research
I chose to use The Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona as my base inspiration. I visited the gardens and took pictures of the many sights the gardens have to offer. I also sketched what I saw, wrote down things I overheard, and even collected ephemera that I found from the location such as leaves and the garden's map.
Poster Thumbnail Sketches and Drafts
Once I had all the information down, I went ahead and created thumbnail sketches for the final poster. I had a wide variety of designs that showcased different areas of the gardens. Above are a few of those thumbnails, and three of those thumbnails were chosen for the second draft of the poster. Those being the first, fourth, and sixth thumbnails shown above.
The three final thumbs were made into more detailed drafts. Eventually I chose draft 3 because I wanted to create a poster that really captures your eye by the sheer amount of detail alone.
Sketch Design
The chosen design was then transferred onto the posterboard. I spent a whole 13 hours working on the details of the woman and the gardens in her hair. The concept of the design is to notice the woman first and then looking at all the details that make up her hair. It captures you to look at the detail and not look away, a detail that can be shared with an experience at the botanical gardens display. In addition to the gardens, the butterfly in her hair represents the butterfly exhibit that opened when I had researched there, and it is just a nice touch to it.
Final Color Design and Use of Illustration
Using the sketch design, I made a colored version of the illustration in Adobe Illustrator and sent this in for the Arizona Citizens for the Arts design competition for their awards ceremony. I was chosen as the winner, and they used my work for the 2023 Arizona Creative Excellence Awards.
Official Arizona Creative Excellence Awards Illustration
I wasn't able to attend the ceremony itself, but the dean of my college was kind enough to take a video of my work being used for the ceremony's theming. I am forever grateful for this opportunity and it is one of my highlights in my career as a designer.