Wednesday, December 17, 2008

The Story Of Belle & Wissell Story Kit

Carmela and I worked with the good folks at the Belle & Wissell to develop a "Story Kit" and window display to promote their Georgetown studio. The limited edition kit (250 sets) contains artifacts and story parts that, pieced together, explain how the characters Belle and Mr.Wissell met and began their adventures in time travel. The cryptic nature of this promotional package adds an element of mystery to the fragmented yet compelling storyline that Carmela devised. Exploration of the contents of the kit provides key details, yet allows the reader to fill in story gaps with their imagination. 
As a bonus, each kit contains a pair of authentic vintage Korean War-era goggles, complete with interchangeable colored lenses - just like the kind Mr. Wissell wears!



The final illustrations were created after a fairly lengthy exploration and development process. I used Belle as a barometer for the illustration style, and created numerous versions of her before Gabe and I settled on her final design, a hybrid of a couple of different sketches.



The whimsical, loose line work of these illustrations allowed a lot of playfulness and required less calculation than some styles I've worked with. A series of four plates were included in the Story Kit:






You can see more images of the kit and order your own here.