Vans is an American brand that we all love. They produce apparels such as T-shirts, hoodies, socks, hats, and backpacks. The brand is active and widely used in sports like skateboarding, surfing, motocross racing, etc. Our artist, Justin, was commissioned by Vans to do the design for 2 years in a row, the designs he created were used as backdrop of the stage and prints on the apparels (t-shirt, hoodies).

This project was for Vans South Africa. South Africa's biggest Music Festival "Rocking the Daisies" happens once a year. For the second time, Vans had their own stage on the Thursday night. The stage hosted a bunch of unique South Africa based bands that have huge talent but have mostly recently emerged, so wouldn’t necessarily be considered for the main stages on the Friday or Saturday night.

The flip side of it though is that the main stages aren’t open on Thursday so this brings a lot of people down to the Thursday night Vans stage. The stage is called "The Campsite Stage" as its situated in the campsite, and away from the main arena. I designed the first Campsite stage and all the branding last year, so this was the second time I did this. I have a great relationship with the guys at Vans so it's always cool working with them. They gave me full creative freedom to do whatever I wanted for both times.

- Justin Poulter

I worked on this project for about 3 weeks. Prior to that though, there was a couple days of research and sketching. I met up with the marketing manager from Vans and has a bit of a brain storm initially. We chucked around a couple of loose ideas and then I went back and looked into a couple of directions before we settled on one at the next meeting. I'd say, all in all, it was about a month of work in total, from conception to completion.

- Justin Poulter

I used a mixture of Photoshop and Illustrator and some hand drawn elements. The final artwork however, was all vector done in Illustrator.

- Justin Poulter

My advice would be to always have your own style. Even if it is heavily influenced (cause all of us are), it should have its own unique signature. Another thing I'd say is to never let people take advantage of your talents, always charge what you think your time is worth with, and only give discounts when you can clearly see benefits in other ways for yourself.

- Justin Poulter

ABOUT JUSTIN POULTER

Justin Poulter is a freelance Graphic Designer and Art Director specializing in hand lettering and illustration. After completing his studies, Justin co-founded the creative agency One horse Town with a partner working with a variety of clients for two years before moving to England to work for the award winning studio ilovedust. Here, he honed his skills working with a variety of international clients including Nike, Vans, Carhartt, Reebok, Coca Cola in a wide range of styles and applications. After 3 years in England he returned to Cape Town as head of illustration at Am I Collective and later spent some time working with the team at Muti. Over his career so far, Justin has built a loyal base of both local and international clients. Justin has now been working independently since July 2014. He currently works out of his home studio based in London, United Kingdom.

See more of his amazing artworks in Behance and his website.