14 December 2010

Marcela Restrepo has an uncanny knack for capturing the essence of towns and cities through their buildings and everyday happenings. As a Sydney-sider and lover of all things Sydney, Marcela’s unique take on the city is what led Saatchi & Saatchi to commission her for the 2011 Sydney Festival identity. As the Sydney Festival is the festival of all festivals in Australia, that makes this the job of all jobs. We thought it was worth asking Marcela a few questions about it. She answered in her amazingly cute Colombian lilt.

What was the original brief? It was a bit different than usual because I started working from a personal image I had done already. I was contacted by julian Melhuish and Skye Houghton from Saatchi & Saatchi. They saw my Sydney drawings on my porftolio and liked that cockatoos image I had and they thought I was the person for the job. They thought the image was very intrinsic to Sydney and it also showed the sense of community so they wanted to have it for the Festival. We did some changes to it to emphasize that Sydney feeling by adding the rooftops and bridge and of course that beautiful yellow balloon that represents the festival. Apart from that image we created about twelve more images mostly of the venues of the festival trying to capture the vibe and atmosphere of the events.

How did you interpret this? I tried to capture the essence of each place, adding the detail on what I thought could help to define the place but trying to keep the drawing simple at the same time, reducing detail on other areas and limiting the colour palette when possible.

Which aspects of your style do you think were appropriate? The fact that I am interested in drawing local places from the city made my style relevant. I think my style is quite simple, my drawings are not pretentious and I try to be honest when drawing. They must have liked the way I see and portray the city.

Did you apply any specific techniques? Nothing too technical but I did spend lots of paper and pencils doing the drawings. Check out this very amateur time lapse I did when drawing the Parramatta town hall.

What was your process? We worked on the images one by one. As usual I did some research of the place to draw before starting drawing and sometimes went to the place to take some reference photos. Then with a clear idea in my mind I started drawing. For some of the drawings I sent a sketch first to make sure they liked the point of view I was using. I would wait for approval on the black & white drawing before adding colour.

How long did the job take to complete? It took about three months from when we met for the first time.

Did you find any aspects of the job particularly difficult / fun / awesome? Difficult… Even if I enjoy it so much drawing, I always find it difficult. That’s why buildings and things in my drawings are all uneven and slightly off proportion. It was lots of fun to work for the Festival and to work with the Saatchi design teams, I received good energy and I did not have major hiccups. It was awesome even to know I would work for the Sydney Festival. It is a huge event here in Sydney and it is always great to work for the arts. I am so happy I am part of it. It’s really cool.

What do you think of the finished product? I know It’s always risky giving my work to someone else to manipulate but I love all the graphic design and typography in the pieces they created. They managed really well the illustrations; they are professionals. It was amazing to see the illustrations animated on the TVC. I only provided them the files and they did all the magic. It was a good surprise to see the end result and then that music by Beach House makes it even better!

How do you feel seeing your work all over the place? I feel so proud! It is great to be walking around the city and find the cockatoos printed on a huge banner or see the brochures everywhere when walking around. I never dreamed of something like that. Sydney has been great to me but creating something for the Sydney Festival exceeded my expectations. I still look and speak like a tourist, no one would believe me I did those drawings if I tell them in the streets.