Paul Rogers illustrates LEGO website campaign

Lego Systems has a new online campaign called Build Together Road Trip. If you are going on a trip, you’ll need a map to navigate five Destinations, ten Landmarks and onto the virtual activities. Click on any of the illustrated locations to play a game, watch movies, download postcards and collect travel stickers together with a friend or parent. I was quite captivated by the movie about how the Tower Bridge was designed and built, go to Drive in Theatre. This is a great example of an established product making headway into virtual reality. The site keeps kids online longer offering interesting bits of information making it educational and fun for all. One piece of advice, when Lego calls assume everything in the brief will need to look as if it were build of bricks with knobs on them. Doh!

Paul says this about the project: "This online game for Lego uses a Road Trip theme, so I dug into the rich look of American roadside architecture and mixed in some Lego motifs. It was a fun challenge to fit all the requested elements onto a map that would look good and function well for kids and their parents."

Creative Director Keith Malone first saw Paul's The Incredibles poster as inspiration. Keith says: "When The LEGO Company decided to market to Dads for the first time, we knew that we needed a different look and feel from our kid targeted advertising. The challenge was to find an expression that still reflected the core fun of our brand but would also draw upon a style that would resonate with this older consumer base, "new nostalgic". Enter Paul Rogers! His style was a perfect match for our concept. Having never worked with Paul before and dealing with a very tight deadline, the team worried that we would be able to have him "get" the brand and be able to execute on time. No worries there, Paul delivered on schedule and beyond our expectations creating art for a truly unique consumer experience. The team here at LEGO is looking forward to working with Paul again in the future."

Go to the Lego site here http://bit.ly/hbZcMX


Heflinreps Illustration Agency
http://www.heflinreps.com

Joe Morse illustrates Play Ball, Jackie!

Mysterious boxes on my doorstep this time of year is a good thing and this week was no exception. Samples of Play Ball, Jackie! written by Stephen Krensky and illustrated by our Joe Morse made a powerful impression the minute I opened the box. Published by Millbrook Press, a division of Lerner publishing in Minneapolis, Play Ball, Jackie! is an explosion of history and emotion. The book came about with a call from Zach Marell, Lerner's creative director, who had seen Joe’s rendition of the poetic classic Casey at the Bat (Ernest L. Thayer/KCP Poetry). Zach had a vision for another great baseball legend, Jackie Robinson. The collaboration between Carol Hinz, the editorial director, Zach and Joe was one of mutual respect and creative flexibility.

Zach Marell says this about discovering Joe's work: His worked reminded of a Nike commercial I saw on TV that used similar art that was animated...it could have been his work, I'm not sure. Either way the emotional energy that the work evoked was strong. I soon came across Joe's work and it immediately brought me back to that strong energetic spirit...I then saw the Casey at The Bat ...I was hooked.

Joe says about the project: "I spent months researching Jackie, Ebbets Field, the Dodgers and the 1940's. It was an incredible time period of change that was mirrored in baseball. The challenge that the story presented was to tell the story of the game inside Ebbets Field and also the events outside the game that made each swing of the bat of the lone black man so important. I wanted to take the reader onto the field and into the stands, I read numerous accounts of the great atmosphere inside Ebbets and I created characters that I hoped conjured some of this passion and devotion.
I feel lucky and humbled that I was given the opportunity to make pictures about Jackie Robinson, on the day in April 1947 that changed everything. I'm so happy that my own children can revisit this time through the book and Jackie's story."

For more information on Lerner Book's website go here http://bit.ly/elTJgm

The following review will appear in the January 1 issue of Kirkus:

PLAY BALL, JACKIE!
Author: Krensky, Stephen
Illustrator: Morse, Joe

Review Date: January 1, 2011
Publisher: Millbrook
Pages: 32
Price ( Hardcover ): $16.95
Publication Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN ( Hardcover ): 978-0-8225-9030-9
Category: Picture Books
Classification: Baseball

Matty and his father, avid Dodgers fans, are in the stands for the first game of the 1947 baseball season. It is also the first time in the modern era that a black player is part of a major league team—Jackie Robinson's debut. There are many black fans there to support him, as well as many white fans who resent his presence. Matty and his dad are of the opinion that everyone deserves a chance and are optimistic that Jackie will be the one to get their team to the World Series. Krensky creates a multilayered recounting of a seminal moment in the history of baseball and America. He incorporates background information while carefully and accurately describing the play-by-play details of that first game, and he also manages to capture the mood of the crowd—and, by extension, the nation. Morse’s muscular, out-of-proportion illustrations focus readers' attention on facial and body language, emphasizing the strong emotions alluded to in the text. A worthy homage to a baseball legend. (author's note, photos, bibliography) (Picture book. 7-10)



Heflinreps Illustration Agency
http://www.heflinreps.com

Paul Rogers pitch perfect for Harps and Angels poster

Center Theatre Group commissioned a poster by Paul Rogers for the new Randy Newman musical “Harps and Angels”, based on Newman’s recordings under the same name and a number of other songs. Its world premiere was at the Mark Taper Forum at the Music Center in Los Angeles on November 10. Paul says “The challenge was to make a poster for a show that was in the process of being written and cast. Charity Capili was the art director on this one and she managed to get this approved by everyone involved without any drama."

Paul was kind enough to share the sketches presented before arriving at the silhouette concept and then a few of the color options, emphasis on “few of”. Let’s hope it makes it to NYC!

Heflinreps e-promos, last 6 months

Since January of this year, we have been sending out email promos based on the current month. Artists create the illustrations specifically for this purpose, and we have finally completed a full calendar year. It's been a great way to connect our potential customers with our artists' portfolios and individual websites. Each one also listed current events and special projects for the month and in some cases giveaways (we used to call them promos).

Kicking off the summer was Penny Dann's Knee High by the 4th of July, then the inimitable Rutu Modan's Dog Days of August, then reluctantly gliding into September's Harvest captured touchingly by Netalie Ron-Raz, followed by the late nights and bright lights of the World's Series in October by Dennis Balogh's portrait of the no-hitter phenom Roy "Doc" Halladay, then onto a more somber yet fascinating celebration Day of the Dead by Sonia Pulido and finally Roy Fox's Merry - the only way to summarize December!

Next year we are going to change it up a bit, so stay tuned and please subscribe by sending Sally a message at sally@heflinreps.com.



Heflinreps Illustration Agency
http://www.heflinreps.com