Black Grouse Beer Label Illustration and Design for Allendale Brewery
I was approached by Allendale Brewery to redesign the packaging for their award winning beer - Black Grouse. This is one of the four labels I've created for Allendale. The commission also included a complete redesign of the pump clip shapes and bottle and can label layouts.
Allendale gave me a lot of creative freedom regarding the design and illustration, as long as the image related to wilderness and was similar in style to their existing packaging, which features monochrome Victorian-style collages against a colourful background.
For this beer label design we settled for a detailed hand-drawn black and white illustration of a grouse howling at the full moon against a red background featuring a pattern of feathers.
The illustration was initially drawn in pen and ink on paper and once approved by the client it was redrawn in Photoshop using Wacom Cintiq tablet for a clean and crisp line. The elements of the background pattern were also hand-drawn using the tablet and then arranged and coloured in Photoshop. The layout of the label and keg badge was executed using Illustrator.
The beer label is part of a series of four. The project won Silver Award in the Creativepool Annual 2021 Illustration category.
★★★★★
"Beautifully executed and a great series of illustrations that fit together within a collection for product design."
"Your series is incredible in both craft and concept [...] Some of the nicest work I have seen in a long time."
Rachel Perry
Founder/EP - Whale BV
Creativepool Annual 2021 Illustration category judge