loading
Loading

    Read more Contact me me for usage or prints
    beech twig

    Illustration and Packaging

    packaging

    Illustration and packaging have always gone hand in hand.  By their very nature, paintings of animals and flowers are decorative as well as informative.

    This blog sets out to show some of the diversity of packaging my illustrations have appeared on.  I also hope to show how clever the designers are, and the difference you may see between an original illustration, and one on a final product.

    Food packaging

    Some of you may have ready my recent blog about the Swedish Flora margarine range.

    This was a re-use of my existing botanical illustrations of clover in packaging design.  The designers were very clever, if not botanically accurate.  Imperceptibly, they used the white clover leaves with the pink clover flower-head.

    Original clover illustration

    Flora margarine

     

    Flora tub with rounded white clover leaves alongside the Trifolium pratense leaflets.

    Sometimes the illustration is used very small.  This was the case for the packaging of the Romano tomato range by ICA supermarkets in Sweden.  My illustration of the White-tailed bumble bee, Bombus leucorum features.

    White-tailed bumble bee Bombus leucorum

    You may have to look closely to spot it on the packaging below!  When you license your illustrations for packaging, you no longer have any say in how the illustration is used, unless you stipulate this in your contract.  I didn’t object to this usage at all, although I slightly wish they hadn’t removed the poor bee’s legs.

    packaging

    Drink Packaging

    On a smaller scale, my illustrations for the Hedgerow Handbook by Adele Nozedar were recently used on her beautiful foraged gin labels.  She only made 200 bottles.  It sold out almost instantly and was delicious.  I loved the way my illustrations complimented the subtle colour of the gin.

    packaging

    Hedgerow Handbook Gin by Adele Nozedar with my sketchbook behind.

    Sometimes I’ll sort out the business side of licensing an illustration for packaging, but never see it on the product.  This happened recently with Lerøy Seafood.  They’re a well-established Swedish company, and I was only too happy to license my hen salmon illustration for use on their packaging.  To date, I’ve not seen it in context.  It’s possible I’ve not been looking in the right places. I hope they will use the illustration some day, after all, they paid for the right to do so!

    fish

     

    Pet food

    One of my most enjoyable (and challenging) recent commissions was to illustrate a series of animals for Spot Farms pet food packaging.  I plan to write a blog about it pretty soon, I’ll keep you posted.

    This involved creating a series of illustrations which stood alone, and which worked as a set for the Wild Shreds brand of pet foods.

    Below is the packaging (illustrations copyright Spot Farms 2019).

    packaging packaging

    And here is the original of the White-tailed deer.  As you can see, the packaging hasn’t tweaked or altered the original illustration much at all.

    It’s interesting, the designer I collaborated with was certain about what he wanted.  This meant lots of alterations in the early stages, but no major alterations once the final illustration was delivered.

    White-tailed deer (copyright Spot farms 2019)

    Mugs

    Not long ago, my botanical illustration of hops was used on a mug produced by Mugly.  It was a straight re-use of an existing illustration, but was a treat to see my illustration used in this context.  This is the illustration of the hop plant, Humus lupulus.

    hops

    Below is a promotional photo of the mug, taken from the Mugly Love website.

    product design

    One of the first packaging design jobs I got was a couple of decades ago.  I worked on the illustrations for a series of mugs showing the wildlife of different continents.  I enjoyed the work immensely and the series of six mugs (produced by Dunoon Ceramics) were in circulation for quite a few years.

    Here is the artwork for the North American mug.

    packaging

    And below you can see it in context, on the mug.

    packaging

    Packaging Design: Mock-ups

    Many years ago, I wanted my illustrations to be used in packaging.  Things have changed now, but back then I’d not been fortunate enough to have my work appear on labels.

    I followed advice from some industry advisers, and mocked up a few products.  If you do this, as an aspiring illustrator, be certain to make it crystal clear that these are only mock-ups, and not the product as it actually is.  You need to be sure you stay clean and don’t end up infringing anyone’s copyright by mistake.

    packaging

    Mock up of Herbal tea

    packaging

    Mock-up of Talcom powder packaging

    Packaging mock-up: Gift wrap

    The most successful of these mock-ups didn’t involve dropping my illustrations into anyone else’s product.  I popped lots of my illustrations onto sheets of wrapping paper.  Ihope that someday someone might decide they like the look of this gift wrap, and produce it commercially.  I’d take enormous pleasure in wrapping birthday presents in sheets printed with my own beetle, flower, or butterfly illustrations.

    gift wrap

    Conclusion

    Over the years, my illustrations have been used in lots of different packaging projects.  Frequently it’s re-use of existing illustrations.  Sometimes it’s new work, especially commissioned for that job.  However it appears, I always find it exciting and fascinating to see my work in a totally new context.  It’s certainly something I’d like to do more of, even if it doesn’t mean I get my illustrations onto wrapping paper!

     

     

     

     

     

    4 comments

    1. Love your work Lizzie. I live near Stow on the Wold and want to learn more about botanical drawing and painting. I tried water colour on still life objects and still need to find a botanical art teacher close to home. So thank you for putting on you tube the drawing and painting of a rowan twig and berries, very good.

      1. Hi Polly

        Thanks so much for your kind comments. I’m really glad my films and blogs are useful for you; although my heart goes out to anyone who puts up with my endless spouting of nonsense! Glad you found something helpful in amongst my stream of consciousness… There is rather a good branch of botanical illustrators located in Gloucestershire (here’s a link to their website: http://www.gsbi.org.uk/); they have meetings and share tips and exhibitions. I believe they’re very friendly and accessible, and I’m sure they welcome new members. Even if you don’t decide to join them or go to their meetings, I bet they’d be able to suggest a good local botanical illustration teacher, not a million miles from Stow? (Now Im panicking that Stow on the Wold isn’t even IN Gloucestershire, so please excuse me if I’m wrong!) Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment, and good luck with your quest for good tuition! X Lizzie

    2. Got a lot to learn about these illustration paintings and packaging…. really appreciate the way you have presented overall information about the same really in a well manner!! Thanks a lot for your good work!! Do visit this Printstocknz.com For vital information that can be used again by anyone

      1. Thanks for the comment. Its something I find interesting. Glad Im just just doing the pictures, not the graphic design to be honest!

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Lizzie Harper