Ask anyone above the age of 35 what they think of their birthday and they’ll probably tell you it's just not as special as it used to be.
But what about when you’re turning 100? Now that’s something to write home about.
Which is exactly what Myer did with their ‘Australia Lives Here’ campaign as they celebrated their centenary earlier this year. With Clemenger BBDO Melbourne at their side, they selected 100 of the items sold in Myer between 1900 and 2000 that were instrumental in bringing about societal change with the aim to exhibit them alongside their modern-day counterparts.
Problem was, Myer was missing 30 of those products from their archives.
Cue Avengers-esque theme music for Jacky Winter's arrival:
With the talents of Jacky Winter artists Beci Orpin, Harry Slaghekke, Vince McIndoe and Nancy Liang and photographer Paul Torcello, our animation arm Flutter produced six films that were used to either promote the overall campaign or call to arms anyone in possession of one of the 30 coveted Myer products.
Below, we give you a recount into the creative process involved in developing five of the films in the campaign.
Barbie - Beci Orpin
Charged with recreating an illustration reminiscent of the Barbie Magazine covers of the 60s, Beci Orpin took inspiration from reference images found on Kathy Kavan's AnotherDesignBlog.
For her first draft, Beci extended the middle illustration further, taking poses from the other references to inform her initial composition.
Reference images for poses.
She then worked from a number of other references to perfect and refine Barbie's pose, update her hairstyle to one more signature of the 60s and develop the floral pattern further.
The final illustration by Beci.
Speedo swimwear - Harry Slaghekke
Harry Slaghekke's experience illustrating vintage style pin-up artwork made him a perfect choice to recreate this original Speedo swimwear advertisement provided by Clemenger.
Before proceeding with the full illustration, Harry created the below sample of the woman's bust and placed it over the original, to ensure he was capturing the original artwork to the client's expectations.
Once confirmed, he rejuvenated the entire artwork, providing it in layers for Flutter to work with in their animation.
Finally, Harry extended the background of the illustration to meet the dimensions desired by Flutter to create the opening scene of their Speedo film.
Photography by Paul Torcello.
Lingerie, Menswear and TV - Nancy Liang
Taking a sidestep from her usual textured collage style, Nancy Liang was brought on to create three separate illustrations for Myer's lingerie, menswear and television departments. Clemenger gave Nancy a series of vintage reference from the Myer mail-order guide to work from.
Initial lingerie sketches by Nancy.
Initial menswear sketches by Nancy.
Final artwork for the menswear and lingerie by Nancy Liang.
Only the lingerie illustration was used to create one of the six films animated by Flutter. Nancy's other artwork appeared in-store and on print and digital marketing assets as a part of the greater campaign.
The final film produced by Flutter using Nancy's lingerie artwork.
L: The development process of Nancy's TV illustration.
R: The finished artwork.
R: The finished artwork.
Nancy's artwork appearing in-store at Myer.
Drone - Vince McIndoe
Old flying models were paired with drones in the hopes that an original 50s model aeroplane would be donated in exchange for the latter. Vince McIndoe was the easy choice to devise an artwork recollective of vintage model plane paraphernalia.
Colour palette and positioning references.
A reference for the type of model plane Vince needed to illustrate.
Vince sketched and painted each component of his artwork by hand, with reference to vintage toy plane packaging and books on flying models supplied by Clemenger.
A WIP photo from Vince - originally the boy was dressed in a yellow jacket.
Vince's final artwork.
A final keyframe from the film.
With the artwork in their possession, Flutter got to work turning it into a film much the same as the others. For this particular film, however, they shared some insight into the implementation on their side.
An example from Flutter of the artwork brought out to different depths.
The developmental stages of creating the drone propellor animation.
Photography by Paul Torcello.
Flutter's final film using the artwork by Vince.
Hairdryer - Harry Slaghekke
Finally, we come to the hairdryer film, which was also illustrated by Harry Slaghekke.
In this instance, the original advertisement didn't actually exist, so an advertisement had to be conceived and produced based on a series of reference images provided by Clemenger.
Originally, the client wanted the illustration to transform into the final photography of the modern-day scene shot by Paul Torcello.
However, wanting to keep in line with the other animation transitions, it was then decided that Harry would illustrate the scene based on the following 60s reference image.
Harry illustrated the woman with two position options, layering all the individually animated components separately, including several of the items around the kitchen.
The artwork was passed onto Flutter to do their thing, where they added a worn texture to the artwork, giving it that vintage look and feel.
A screenshot of Flutter setting up the scene in Adobe After Effects.
And there you have it! Four artists, seven illustrations, five films, 100 years in age and countless hours in production and you have Myer's 'Australia Lives Here' campaign.
Impressed by any of our artists work? Get in touch at production@jackywinter.com to commission your own piece of artwork!
