Mean STINKS!

I did this poster earlier this year for an anti-bullying campaign which seems to have gained a satisfying amount of traction in the US. It’s run by a company (Secret, owned by Proctor & Gamble) but its intentions are resolutely in the right place, speaking directly to ‘girly clique’ notions of clubs, secrets and being ‘in-the-know’ while subverting the idea of gang signs by painting one fingernail (the little one) a specific shade of blue to let other girls know you’re in the Mean Stinks gang. Stinks…it’s a deodorant brand…geddit?

http://meanstinks.com

The website’s a simple shareable Tumblr pile pf positive images, captions and illustrations that anyone can follow, but this print poster travelled a little further than the internet. Sadly I wasn’t asked to paint directly on a hand (which would have been great!) but I was able to digitally comp my ink work onto the photograph of the hand supplied. What you can see is progression from sketch to final below.

I like the end result - positive, with something of the native American Indian about it; as well as the almost-a-rude-gesture thrust of the hand sign pointing skyward in a nod to rock concerts and lighters held aloft.

A good job all round I’d say!

(Incidentally, this job was the first one I’d done in Pixelmator rather than Photoshop).