AL EVANS
1982 Skidmore Sahratian Promotional Calendar

This humorous promotional desk calendar from the Skidmore Sahratian Studio showcases some of their top illustrators taking a look at the “lighter side” of car art. Rife with visual puns and absurd juxtapositions, it also features this embittered but hilarious cartoon mocking the approval process which ad art had to go through before a print-ready version was finished.

Don Wieland [car]
Hank Kolodziej [background]
1979 Dodge Diplomat - Brochure cover
McNamara Associates
Magic marker

Perhaps the last fully hand illustrated car brochure ever, veteran McNamara artists, Hank Kolodziej and Don Wieland, created a lively and youthful atmosphere for the otherwise dour Dodge Diplomat, the slogan for which was “Sensibly Yours”.

The pieces illustrate the extensive process from first mockup to printed product. Notice the slight differences from the initial magic marker draft to the finished catalog—the changed activity and attire of the woman in the upper left; the jaunty wheel angle and hubcaps on the final catalog image.

After an advertising agency hired an illustration studio to produce an ad campaign, the agency sent a concept to the studios. The artists and the studio director would create rough mock-ups or drafts of ideas relating to the initial concept. They worked quickly using tools like pencil or markers, and captured the general mood and tone of the ad. Before the copy or text was fully developed, words might be blocked out with impressionistic scribbles.

These sketches were passed back and forth between the studio and agency until a final draft was approved. Inevitably, changes were required. Some changes were simple—the dial on the radio was incorrectly placed—other changes were more significant, and completely redrawn drafts were rapidly prepared.