In early 2022 Topps asked me to work on Project22, a collaboration between Topps and 22 artists from around the world. Each artist would create 10 pieces to form a dynamic and arresting signature set.
Topps gave me great scope and I used this to explore new techniques of integrating my artwork into a more formal setting. As the work progressed I felt more confident in placing art within a designed set up, something I'd stayed away from up until that point.
My main aims were to first and foremost get a good likeness with my portrait, then I wanted my work to be balanced, bold and dynamic.
Being eye catching was imperative.
Seeing the full set at once gives it a type of overall cohesion but I think the output is still varied enough to be surprising with each new card.
Utilising hand drawn and hand made elements for as many parts of my layout was also a loose guiding principle, this notably bled into the type I drew for some of the pieces. I also made my own torn paper textures to give an extra authentic feel.
Client: Topps
Art Director: Pedro Demetriou
Tools: Procreate, Illustrator, Photoshop
Illustration & Design: Dan Leydon
