Being invited back to such a great local hockey initiative is pretty exciting. The Carolina Hurricanes reached out for a poster design for the 2018/2019 Homegrown Season. The Homegrown Series aims to get the local art, food and breweries more visibility. After some rearrangement of days, I was assigned Jan 11th 2019 against the Buffalo Sabres. What most people do not know, is that I’m a WNY (Western New York) kid. Born and raised in Steuben County and only 2 hours south of Buffalo. This assignment was exciting but difficult as Buffalo pulls at my heart strings. To that end, I never watched much hockey growing up. The only player from Buffalo that I knew was Dominik “The Dominator” Hasek. One of the finest goalies of the NHL at that time.
To springboard off of the success of 2016's "PNC" poster, I feel as if I should stick to my passion and strength: Landscapes. I like the sound of the "Take Warning" motto the team has. I wanted to depict a small herd of Buffalo light boxed in front this gigantic (freaking huge) hurricane type of system moving in behind them. The bison would act as a secondary read. It's a mix of opponent based imagery but all in all, creating a beautiful poster that people would be proud to hang in their homes.
After much tweaking and trying to get this concept to work, we took a 180 and focused on an interior scene of PNC Arena. I felt it was a good compromise. The whole idea was to celebrate the “Caniacs” and fans. This year showed the birth of a cool winning celebration on home ice and to partially show that concept ended up being pretty fitting. Carolina’s starting goal tender, Scott Darling was released by the team mid season. It’s the risks you take showing players jersey’s in the poster. I was happy to edit it to make it current.
I thank the Hurricanes and the Homegrown Series for allowing artists and local business’s show what they have to offer. If given the opportunity, It'd be an honor. What do you think? Do you like the original idea or where the poster ended up? Comment and share this post!
Carolina Hurricanes-Homegrown Poster
It's crazy how brief conversations turn into potential gigs down the road. To be able to be among other elite Raleigh artists and contribute to the new Homegrown Series, feels pretty freaking cool. It's Carolina's way of bringing together different local artisans, beer, design, music and food to each of their 8 Homegrown Series games. I think it's a great idea.
Here's the process on developing a poster for the Hurricanes vs Blackhawks matchup on December 30th. From the get go, I wanted to do Stormy the Ice Hog (Carolina's mascot). I've seen pictures but knew if I wanted to make this poster appealing, I'd have to change up the design and approach a bit differently. I started out a character design that I thought I was going to take to the end. Late one night, I pulled a 180 and designed the Ice Hog rendition that seems more up my alley.
The "REDVOLUTION" is their motto this year. I wanted to illustrate Stormy out front, leading the charge. Hurricane winds brewing in the background. I knew I wanted to get some dynamic lighting as well.
All in all, I'm pleased with what I was able to brew up. I hope I get another chance to do this series for them. I want to thank Kyle Fowlkes and the Carolina Hurricanes for giving me this opportunity and complimentary game tickets.
