For every concept there are hundreds of design directions an illustrator can take. Coming up with those possible directions is one of the most interesting parts of our day! We thought you might enjoy seeing some of the alternate directions that we provided the Sacramento Area Creeks Council for this year's Creek Week event… you can see how each direction gave the same concept a different feeling.

Every year the Sacramento Area Creeks Council puts on an educational event called "Creek Week". The goal of Creek Week activities is to teach school age kids the importance of keeping our local creeks clean throughout the year. Several informational pieces are created as part of the program including t-shirts, posters, bookmarks, mugs and more. Each item is emblazoned with the year's theme, which for 2010 is "Time to Care for Creeks". Page Design illustrator Kurt Kland was given the task of creating an illustration that would embody this theme and set the artwork apart from previous years' artwork.

Get Out Your Sketch Pad

Because illustrations can take a great deal of time to create, we always start with concept sketches. This allows the client to make conceptual as well as detail-oriented changes before we start drawing the final piece. With "Time to Care for Creeks" some great imagery automatically popped into our heads, and we created four concepts for the Council to choose from: 1) using an alarm clock, 2) a clock face, 3) a cookoo clock and 4) an hour glass in which the sand was replaced with a stream. You can view these sketches by clicking on the thumbnails below.

The Council decided to use the hour glass concept because the idea of time running out gives the illustration a sense of urgency. Kurt did several more sketches to nail down specific elements within the artwork to make sure we had enough detail to distinguish the plant and animal species in the illustration. These species include: a Blue Heron, Red Legged Frog, Monarch Butterfly, Western Terrestrial Garter Snake, Western Pond Turtles, Rainbow Trout, Western Red Bud, Sandbar Willows, Valley Oak, Cat Tails and other local plants. Next he applied the final style giving the illustration the look and feel of a watercolor painting. Click on the color image of the illustration above for a larger view.

The beauty of an illustration is that, without any copy attached to it, the viewer can immediately grasp the message. This illustration drives home the concept that our creeks can disappear if not properly cared for in time.

For more information about the 2010 Creek Week, including volunteer information and creek clean up days, visit their website at www.creekweek.net.