One of the best things about owning your own business is how different every day can be from the next. While that can certainly be stressful at times, it’s usually very fun, interesting, and exciting. It also allows cool, unexpected projects to crop up which is exactly what happened with Annie’s Blue Ribbon General Store in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Annie’s is an amazing little shop of treasures, chock full of stationery, books, gifts, trinkets, and treats. You definitely need to set aside some serious browsing time to take it all in. It’s a great neighborhood spot which is why I was so excited when I was asked to illustrate their holiday window display this year!
For a lefty who’s used to drawing rather small and tight, creating an illustration for three 9 foot by 4.5 foot windows was an awesome challenge. I started by creating all of the artwork by hand in my sketchbook. Once that was complete, I was able to turn everything into a scene, enlarge it, and create several large format prints to use as my template. My good friend Jenna gave me some tips and ideas of how to execute this, without which I would have been lost! I taped the prints on the outside of the windows and used them as my blueprint to recreate the illustration from the inside of the shop.
One panel complete.
Drawing away!
Close up of the first window of three.
Another close up as I put on a few finishing touches.
The white ink really popped once it got a bit darker outside!
It was a lot of prep and a full day of drawing, but I was so excited about the end result! If you’re in the area be sure to stop by the store and check it out. Thanks so much to Annie’s for letting me a part of their holiday window display.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and holiday weekend. See you all in December!