BRIEF // To delight and surprise Wellingtonians, encouraging them to engage with their downtown business community via advent-style voucher releases hidden in their local city-scape.
Positively Wellington Tourism brought me on as an illustrator/animator to collaborate with TouchCast NZ on an epic exploration experience focusing on my favourite city (and hometown), Wellington. Inspired by the successes of past calendars and cultural touchstones like ‘Where’s Wally’ visitors to www.advent.wellingtonnz.com hunt through the populated landscape for doors containing vouchers for local businesses and deals.
As an illustrator and digital storyteller, I couldn’t help but add my own layer of detail and personality, which is well supported by the user’s ability to zoom into the canvas, or even view Wellington at night-time - a 2015 first for the Advent calendar.
Particular attention was paid to Wellington’s reputation for its coffee and craft beer scene, street art, buzzing waterfront, nature and its creative population, all things I have a personal appreciation of.
The day-time artwork, zoomed all the way out, showcases my ideal December day in the Capital.
A combination of hand-animated GIF style animation, and HTML 5 animation was used to bring the canvas to life.
Like with most of my work, I took great pleasure in adding local celebrities and mni stories into the canvas - here some of Wellington's well-known musicians are having an impromptu jam.
Another GIF style animation I produced for Cuba St's infamous Bucket Fountain.
100% calendar crop.
100% calendar crop.
TouchCast NZ and Phantom Billstickers also went real-world and placed 24 installations around Wellington City, complete with opening doors and hidden chocolate treats.
The artwork was also utilised for wrapping of gorgeous chocolate blocks by the Wellington Chocolate Factory who are well known for the fantastic wrappers.
The city canvas at night not only changes the mood, but also changes the contents of the image in significant ways.
An example of a small section of the canvas in both day and night.
A shout out to my boys at the Aro Valley institution, Garage Project. As an avid beer drinker and supporter of local brews, I dotted references to some other local breweries around the canvas.
Including my favourite Wellington sculpture(s) was a great pleasure, and reflects the efforts of local bodies and council to enliven our city.
Self Portrait of the Artist and Family.