This year I had the great opportunity to work with the folks at Anomaly on a campaign geared towards the launch of new space themed shapes for Lucky Charms cereal. As a product of the 80s, I of course grew up eating cereals like Lucky Charms so it was a fun way of connecting my present with my past.

For this campaign, Anomaly wanted to create a massive space poster which would feature the new charm shapes in a compelling way. They gave me the opportunity to visualize Lucky Charms scene in my own aesthetic - which meant it was left to me to determine what that scene would look like.

If you’re interested in learning how this piece was created, let’s go!

Space scenes are some of my favorite scenes to illustrate, though they can be a challenge to render purely in line work during the concepting phase. One way I like to vary my approach is to paint in simple black and white values to explore different compositions, lighting, and initial ideas. Here are a handful of the explorations I came up with based on the requirements outlined by the client:

These thumbnail sketches served as the jumping off point for discussions around the piece. It gave us visuals we used to determine where the piece needed to go. From there, I refined a few of the thumbnails into these sketches:

Once we had the initial direction established, I opened up the composition so we could begin building out a world based on the charm shapes themselves. I looked for ways of integrating the charm shape language into the stars, the rocks, the ship, etc. My goal was to create a piece in which viewers could explore the end of the Lucky Charms rainbow…

With the sketch was approved, it was time to detail this beauty and really bring everything together. When I’m painting the final version of an illustration, I like to get up close and personal with every element on the page. I add details most people won’t notice, but they’ll feel them. It can feel serene painting details into rocks or clouds and it gives me an opportunity to put my hand and attention to all the details of a piece - which I delight in.

Here are a few detail shots to see what it looks like up close:

What was really fun about this piece was that it would be used on a handful of different product giveaways. One of my favorite applications was a hoodie they were going to print the piece on. I had the opportunity to create a mockup of what it would look like:

I had a lot of fun working on this one and was especially thankful for the freedom to explore a fun IP from my childhood. Big thanks to the folks at Anomaly for the opportunity, I sincerely appreciate it!

And thank YOU for for following along on this journey, it means a lot!