Hansel & Gretel is Scottish Ballet's first full-length ballet choreographed by new Artistic Director Christopher Hampson. This magical production, inspired by the Grimm Brothers’ famous fairy tale, premiered over winter 2013.
Christmas is always a time to do something a little bit special. For Hansel & Gretel, I was asked to produce something that would really wow our audiences. The poster features dancer Eve Mutso as The Witch, 'a bewitching ballerina who is not at all as she seems.'
Christmas is always a time to do something a little bit special. For Hansel & Gretel, I was asked to produce something that would really wow our audiences. The poster features dancer Eve Mutso as The Witch, 'a bewitching ballerina who is not at all as she seems.'
The final image is extremely complex with hundreds of layers. Below is a short video showing the construction of the artwork.
I also designed the production logo which featured throughout the campaign. Below is an animated ident which I created for our video content.
The souvenir programme featured a holographic foil motif across front and back cover, which looked particularly magical in the darkness of the theatre. I wanted readers to feel like they were exploring the forest with Hansel and Gretel, so each spread centres around tree illustrations which I created specially for the programme.
One of the full page illustrations I created for the programme.
The education project 'Hansel & Gretel & Me' had a special section in which I used competition entries from children and adults across Scotland to create the illustrations on these pages.
The holographic foil continues over on to the back cover.
It is important to credit the contribution of illustrator Neil Duerden to the poster artwork.
Neil was commissioned to create the poster in autumn 2012; his version is pictured below. However some months later, Hansel & Gretel production designer Gary Harris felt that the poster needed tweaking to match his constantly evolving vision for the ballet. After consultation with Gary, I went to work using Neil's illustration as a starting point and came up with the final image shown previously.
Below is an early concept design which I created for the launch of the new season in 2012. You can see the artwork evolution from this initial idea, through Neil's version, to the final image.
Neil was commissioned to create the poster in autumn 2012; his version is pictured below. However some months later, Hansel & Gretel production designer Gary Harris felt that the poster needed tweaking to match his constantly evolving vision for the ballet. After consultation with Gary, I went to work using Neil's illustration as a starting point and came up with the final image shown previously.
Below is an early concept design which I created for the launch of the new season in 2012. You can see the artwork evolution from this initial idea, through Neil's version, to the final image.
