'Metro Cats' Collage

Another editorial illustration, this accompanied an article about the plight of homeless cats and kittens in inner city Auckland. Neglected and unloved, the article describes the cats and some unfortunate incidents involving motor vehicles, stray dogs and industrial accidents. Nine lives weren't quite enough.

The brief was simple - the illustration had to be some sort of collage. I saw it as an opportunity to move away from using computer generated imagery, something that I believe all designers have to do once in a while. Using offcuts from a photo lab, magazine cuttings, newspaper, acetate, photocopies destined for the rubbish skip, wallpaper and an awful lot of spray adhesive, I created this illustration in the early hours of a cold Monday morning.

Despite leaving the job to the very last minute, it was surprisingly satisfying to finally get away from the computer and be a little more expressive (and a lot less deliberate) with my design. More importantly, the illustration complemented the article nicely.