With the rise of social media and accessible entrepreneurship, businesses are now operating on a global scale. In such a diverse marketplace, retailers are struggling to find ways to set their merchandise apart from the rest. In recent years, experiential endeavors, experience-based events, have become increasingly popular among retailers and brands alike to promote their product offerings. In their latest experiential collaboration with Nike, digital media artists, Pussykrew, deconstructed the traditional Chinese architecture of Beijing's Forbidden City to create key visuals for a large-scale campaign. The project included an activation which consisted of a four-weekend basketball tournament called the Beijing99. “The campaign was created for Beijingers. It was inspired by China’s rich visual history, combined with the elements of modern art direction to celebrate the attitude and intensity of Beijing basketball players. In our designs, we referenced elements from the Forbidden City which features very traditional Chinese architecture - ancient wooden structures of the palace complex in central Beijing. We think the whole idea for the campaign was very inspiring and quite innovative. The team really put in the effort to create something that feels very inspired by the local culture and that could only exist in Beijing. All of the jerseys featured artworks based on Chinese folklore and Chinese mythology. It’s pretty iconic. They were inspired by different mythical beasts and elements that are a part of the Chinese heritage as a way to celebrate the local culture and history and celebrate the pride and ambition of Beijing’s younger athletes” The brief's intent was specific: the purpose of the campaign was to inspire the people of Beijing to participate in more athletic endeavors. To do this, Nike planned to honor the top 99 Beijing basketball players in the city by creating a wearable ranking system on jerseys numbered 1 through 99. The basketball jerseys can only be won, and aren’t for sale. “The collaboration was quite organic. There was a lot of creative exchange as we were trying to find the balance between the ancient historical inspirations and the modern artistic approach. We initially made more simple designs but while the project was moving forward, it really started growing and evolving. We definitely had creative input; we were involved in the whole process. As we were progressing with the project, the client and the agency and creative directors were kind of learning from us what is possible and how we could take it to another level, in an interesting way.” All of the visuals that went into the campaign were to be directly related to the city’s history, with a modern interpretation to reach the Beijingers. The portraits were inspired by the 2000-year-old tradition of Chinese portrait painting crafted for emperors, empresses, and the elite. Nike planned to recreate those images in a modern interpretation featuring proud Beijing basketball players. The background 3D designs are inspired by the traditional buildings in the Forbidden City, such as the iconic rooftops, and follow themes of repetition, order, and symmetry. The inspirations were to come 80% from traditional architecture and city-based references and 20% basketball elements, focusing on a combination of geometric and abstract designs. “It was pretty intense because we were 3D modeling single parts that were inspired by the old Beijing architecture while trying to create traditional Chinese patterns. We were basically drawing on 3D models, in the software, trying to recreate a few thousand years of Chinese culture. This was quite challenging, yet very enriching ” Pussykrew explained. “ We painted everything digitally using a tablet, we were drawing and painting by hand. We created collages from photos and had to trace every single detail and added new elements to make the design unique and consistent. I think what we did with the texture is interesting because while we were trying to recreate the patterns, we were also adding our take on the patterns. We added a bit of metal, gold and sheer, glossy details. Beside developing CG backgrounds for editorial and key elements for the campaign that were transformed into CNC machined models, we created jersey product shots. We were asked to 3D model the Jerseys and make hyper-realistic renders. “To be honest, it was probably one of the craziest projects we ever did because of the complexity of the patterns. We had about three to four weeks to do all nine backgrounds and patterns. The project expanded so that those designs were printed for promotional materials all over the city. The basketball tournament featured a custom basketball court with decals and our 3D designs printed as physical sculptures. Our work was even projected on the Bell Tower in Beijing.” In addition to Pussykrew’s contribution to this project, another interactive design studio from our B&A roster also collaborated with Nike to help bring their Beijing99 vision to life. Conceptual design house, ilovedust, worked with Nike on three of their basketball game jersey illustrations, The Bluebird, The Bear, and The Horse. “The brief was pretty in-depth. It included a lot of insight into the Chinese traditions and working styles. We partnered with Nike to create fresh takes on these Zodiac animals whilst maintaining a strong link to paintings and illustrations from the past.” Bejing99 with Nike is one of the largest collaborations by B&A artists, creating something fresh and innovative that hasn’t been done before.

As a professional artist, it’s easy to get lost in the process. Personal projects are an important way for artists to reconnect with their inspirations and reignite their passion in creative avenues that would go otherwise unexplored. In her latest collaboration with Vogue Portugal, stylist Jèss Monterde created a mood board for a story close to her heart and expanded her role on set. “I didn't know Ericka Hart at all when this project first began,” explained Jèss. “When Arale Reartes, the photographer, told me about her and how she'd love to shoot her, I started to follow her on Instagram and fell in love. That's when I created a mood board for a story that I wasn’t even sure she’d be interested in.” The client, Vogue Portugal, responded well to the mood board and decided to commission the story. They loved the idea of featuring Ericka and were coincidentally preparing their Sex Issue for May. Once Vogue signed on to the project, it was time to reach out to Ericka. The project is centered around the sexuality educator with a Master’s of Education in Human Sexuality. “She is Ericka Hart: She/They, sex educator, black queer femme, racial/social/gender justice disruptor, writer, breast cancer survivor, model,” explained Jèss. “This is how she describes herself and I couldn't do it better. The inspiration came from her: from her words, from her strength, and from her knowledge.” In addition to setting the tone and aesthetic for the project with Arale, Jèss was also responsible for the wardrobe on set. “I did the entire styling for the shoot, but as you'll see, some of the photos feature the model naked. Sometimes you just have to step aside and let the body talk. Ericka’s energy, in terms of fashion, is really bright and colorful. Her style is free and powerful. Color, tulle, and glitter are all among the dreamy elements that have become my signature on shoots. So I decided to pull the craziest dresses. I have never seen so much joy in a person wearing a Marc Jacobs dress. It was really emotional for me to see so much happiness on a shoot.” “I wanted to use young designers for some of the accessories,” explained Jèss. “They are free, and more likely to feel comfortable taking risks. I commissioned ANH Jewelry to create a crown for Ericka. It had to be colorful, that was the most important ask. With the help of the artist Giorgia Rojas, they created a crown that transmits light and color, the same as Ericka.” “Vogue has been really respectful, no boundaries, no rules. They trust in our mood board and our ideas, so we were really free in this story. Ericka said something about the shoot that really resonated with me: ‘If you only see stretch marks and scars in the picture, you are missing the entire canvas.’”

Photographer Ben Rayner spent a day in New York City with actress Natasha Lyonne for his recent collaboration with Oyster Magazine for their latest issue, Obsessed. Ben and Natasha made their way to Brooklyn and checked into the Williamsburg Hotel. “It was super cold outside that day so we kinda just stayed inside and made the most of it,” explained Ben. “We were able to photograph some balcony shots, and of course all around the Williamsburg Hotel in Williamsburg.” The images feature Natasha having fun with Ben, playing dress up and posing around the hotel room. There was no concept, mainly because they didn’t need one. “She’s such a strong character so anything conceptually is really just about her. I wanted to capture her personality more than anything else, which I think comes across very well. There definitely was a dynamic, she was kind of mean to me,” Ben joked, laughing. “We definitely had a bit of dynamic, we played off of each other a lot. She was a lot of fun.” “It was just the one day shoot with a small team. The stylist did a great job. Natasha is wearing pretty cool pieces in the shoot, they were a little eccentric. I love all the images where she’s in the green dress and on the couch where she’s goofing around. When her personality came out, I was really able to capture her.”

Stanley Chow has been creating portrait art since high school. Using his illustrations as a way to bring his peers together, he took pride in how happy his classmates and teachers were with his interpretations. It wasn’t until the dawn of social media that he truly felt like he found his niche. Since then, the renowned illustrator has perfected his craft and drawn portraits for some of the most well-known faces throughout history. In his latest collaboration with Time Magazine, illustrator Stanley Chow features portrait art for eleven of Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2019. This isn’t Stanley’s first time working with Time. He most notably illustrated a feature for Mad Men, as well as an article on the similarities between the two controversial presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, while on the campaign trail in 2015. For this project, Stan was given creative freedom on most of the faces he drew. Like with all of his portrait work, he took some time to research and study different images and visuals of his subjects. They varied in occupation, falling across Time’s different categories, from government official Robert Mueller to make-up artist Pat McGrath. In this level of editorial work, Stanley prefers for the illustrations to be created in context, so the expressions and details can reflect the content in the feature. Since these illustrations were created out of context, there was a small editing process. The illustrator received specific notes for Emilia Clarke’s art. The actress was to be illustrated in a red dress with short hair, looking like herself and unlike the roaringly popular character, Daenerys Targaryen, that she depicts in the popular HBO series, Game of Thrones. Stanley’s favorite portrait of the mix, however, is another notable face from Hollywood. “Rami Malek has a pretty distinctive face. My kids are big fans of him. They’ve been watching Bohemian Rhapsody on rotation recently. I think I nailed his likeness on the 1st attempt. It’s easier to do a portrait when you already know the face.” Although Stan has been creating portraits since before the rise of social media, it isn’t his only area of expertise. “I was mainly doing lifestyle and fashion illustration,” explained Stanley. “Twelve years ago, I did an illustration of Jack and Meg from The White Stripes for fun and I posted the illustration on Myspace. It somehow reached Jack and Meg, and they asked me to do some work for them. Six months later, the work I had created for them was nominated for a Grammy Award. I naturally started illustrating more musicians and sports athletes, and by then twitter was starting up. Celebrities started retweeting my images and even using them for their profile pictures. I haven’t looked back since. Right place, right time.”  

As one of the youngest photographers on our roster, Taylor Rainbolt’s fresh take on capturing an organic moment proves to be a unique advantage. She believes in collaboration, and the nature of her process relies on connecting with her subjects in a non-traditional way. Taylor Rainbolt gives us a behind-the-scenes look into her techniques and aesthetic in her latest photoshoot collaborations with Refinery29 and Adidas. “I love shooting as everything is happening. I think you get a better result when you’re in the moment. I like when the client understands when the shot looks different and gives me the creative freedom to roam and really connect with my talent. That’s how my work can feel really genuine when looking at it,” explained Taylor. Like most photo shoots, the brief for her shoot with Adidas included a shot list, but the team quickly put it to the side. “It was really nice to work with the Adidas team because we were all on the same page and I like to be very collaborative with my client. I want to make sure we’re all getting what we need. Being one of the younger photographers on the rosters, I regularly work with a younger demographic. I love when clients take my opinion into consideration and we can really collaborate on something rad.” Taylor believes in creating an authentic moment on set, and that connecting with her talent can make or break the flow of a shoot. Part of her process involves bringing extra tools to set to create a specific atmosphere for her subjects. “One thing I do always have with me when shooting is my Polaroid camera. I like to start my shoot off on a positive note. I believe that playing around with the Polaroid and being able to show the talent “this is what it’s gonna look like” gets them excited. Being able to hand them something tangible creates an intimate moment between us, and the subject is able to see that outcome instantly. Everyone is all about Instagram these days, so being able to collage your favorites and show what we’ve been up to and what we did that day, really resonates with my generation and future generations in general. So that’s really important to me. I have boxes and boxes of polaroids, with these mementos. My polaroid camera is always with me, but not necessarily that I do my whole shoot with.” “I think what really brings the energy is that I have to be super positive and be ready to shoot. I always grew up listening to Spanish music, so getting that going before I go on set really amps me up, and bringing that playlist to set really helps. Most importantly, my goal is to always make sure that my talent feels very comfortable and I want them to feel confident. It’s important to make my talent feel beautiful or handsome and feel good in what they're wearing and how they look. If they don’t feel good, it shows in the photos. Actors are just normal people, they're just as self-conscious about the same things as we are. I hate being in front of the camera, so I totally understand that feeling. My job is to make everyone comfortable.” Taylor’s ability to inspire the subject to let loose is an asset on set and her unbreakable energy sets her apart. “In my recent shoot Refinery29, it was rainy and we had no sun but the whole shoot was based on being outside. It was muddy and I had to get in the mud and just do it. The team is so important. It was an all hands on deck moment, the stylist even had to carry the talent so that she didn’t get all gross and dirty. I would do anything for the photo.”

Photographer Michael Muller has a unique talent for combining his passions and creating art that moves. A frequent photographer to the superheroes, Michael is known throughout Hollywood for his adventure-based shoots. Whether he’s capturing Captain Marvel take flight, setting Tom Holland on fire, or diving deep to the depths of the ocean, Michael will stop at nothing to get the shot. In his ongoing partnership with Aston Martin, Michael took his love of cars and teamed up with Aston Martin’s Design Director Marek Reichman to produce stills, motion, and VR for the elite brand. “A year and a half ago I started working with Marek and shooting at factories with Eric Reichman and Tom Brady. I showed Reichman the VR that I made and he was blown away. He started talking with the company about making VR and that was the beginning. It was a lot of talking. I basically got three of their cars and started this project. My vision was to film the ocean and then the desert and then downtown and shoot all three mediums. The project grew to about 48 people coming out to the desert. We had 3 stunt drivers, using Shotovers with a technocrane. Two camera cars, two drone teams and I had to choreograph all three films being shot at once: stills, VR, and motion. I had complete creative freedom so we only had one person from the company there, which allowed me to move really quickly. The pace is what allowed me to get all three shoots accomplished in one day.” The idea of incorporating VR into advertising campaigns was born from one of Michael’s first passions, the ocean. “I've been doing my shark project for 15 years and my goal is to change people’s perspectives of sharks, as well as to raise awareness of what’s happening in our ocean. With photography, it’s challenging because you only see one moment. You don’t see the large scale of what’s down there. I reached a point where I was going to stop my shark project and move on. In that moment, I knew that VR is the future. I had never put a headset on at that point. I just realized that I can take you with me underwater with the VR and you can actually see a 360 view, so you can dive with me. That’s what I’ve been wanting to show people the past 15 years,” explained Michael. “What we did with Aston Martin is give people the opportunity to experience what it’s like to drive the car. When you have hands on the steering wheel, the camera is where your head would be. The only way to capture that was with CGI so you either CGI the car or the outside background. It’s just like a video game. We were able to get that perspective, the driver’s POV, in camera. It's a game changer.” Michael sees this technology as a turning point for not only the automotive industry but commerce as a whole. “It’s really cool, your phone just turns into a headset. So you can turn your phone around 360, point it anywhere and you can see any part of the commercial. It’s not as immersive as a headset, it’s another tool. It’s a really powerful medium that hasn’t even been tapped yet. It’s fun to be on the forefront blazing the trails. As an innovator, you gotta make stuff yourself and figure it out as you go, there’s no path no one has come before us,” explains Michael. “You’ll be shopping in your headsets soon; you’ll get on a plane and half the people will be in headsets.” EXPERIENCE THE VR