Ads you want to look at

Says a blogger from New York aka samsebeskazal: “The main idea of cartoon advertising is to draw attention to what people have not paid attention to for a long time. There are so many different advertisements around today that it is almost impossible to make us look closely at any one. Here we need either mass character, or shocking, or creative moves (which does not always work out and also becomes boring), or new non-standard manufacturing technologies. Drawn advertising has become one of these technologies.

(Total 52 photos)

Source: Journal/samsebeskazal

1. Its novelty is, of course, very relative. Rather, it is a well-forgotten old. Especially for New York, whose walls were once covered in abundance with hand-made advertisements. Yes, they were not as beautiful and stylish as modern ones, but the technique of their execution was exactly the same. Cans of paint, brushes and rollers, a cradle suspended by ropes and an artist inside, methodically applying a huge image stroke by stroke. The peak of popularity of hand-drawn advertising came in the twenties and forties of the last century. There was a lot of painting then, and to this day, this faded advertisement can still be seen on many New York buildings. Then came the technology of large format printing and vinyl, which killed manual labor and made outdoor advertising a mass product. Outdoor advertising began to appear wherever possible, turning the advertisement into a soulless, intrusive and often annoying picture. Now advertising surrounds us from all sides, and the authorities of many cities are racking their brains on how to rid their streets of it, or at least reduce its number a little.

2. Today, hand-drawn advertising has done what seemed impossible to do. She made people pay attention to her. And even more. They don't just look at her. They tell others about her, they take pictures of her (and some even take pictures against her background), they post her on the Internet and even collect her. And she was able to cross the boundaries of the advertising space and become almost an object of art, along with good graffiti.

3. All this became possible thanks to an individual approach to each specific work. An exclusive offer appeared on the mass product market. This does not mean that if you paint anything on the wall, it will immediately win the hearts of passers-by. Of course not. Many professionals take part in its creation. From creatives and designers to street artists. A topic is selected, a place is searched for, a drawing style is selected. And such advertising costs, as you understand, many times more expensive than its vinyl counterpart.

4. To learn how to draw like this, you need to spend many years on training and go through all the stages of a professional path. For the first two years, the novice only cleans the brushes, carries the jars, and helps out with other rough work. And he also watches how others work and listens, listens, listens. Then they begin to trust him to paint large surfaces, then they teach him how to mix paints. Then they show how to work with individual sections. And in the sixth or seventh year, he begins to slowly master all the wisdom. It takes another two or three years to finally fill your hand and learn to see all the nuances of a huge picture while hanging in a small cradle. The artists themselves say that it takes about 10 years to become a true master in this field. The work is very hard. In addition to the ability to draw, one must also be physically strong and hardy. The shift can last for 10-12 hours, and you have to work all year round, languishing from the summer heat, hiding from the rain or wrapping yourself up from the icy wind.

5. One of New York's largest cartoon advertising makers is Colossal media, which was founded in 2004 by three friends. Today they are a company with a multi-million dollar turnover, they operate throughout the country, and in addition to New York, there are 18 more cities on the Colossal media list. They employ 30 professional artists. The company is not just an art workshop, but a full-fledged advertising agency. They themselves look for customers, offer ideas for advertising companies, and most of the surfaces on which they work belong to them. It was they who were able to return the interest of advertisers to the undeservedly forgotten technology. The cost of one project varies from 5,000 to 100,000 dollars and depends on the area and timing. The manufacturing technology itself is quite complicated. First, the wall is measured and marked out. Then a sketch is made in the workshop, which is approved by the customer. Then the sketch is scaled and the contours of the future advertisement are manually drawn on a scale of 1:1 on large rolls of paper. Then, using a special machine, they burn the outline of the pattern, making perforation in this place.

6. Further, a cradle is hung out at the place of work or a lift is installed, and a primer layer is applied to the surface.

7. Then they begin to transfer the contours of the future drawing. They are transferred sheet by sheet, gradually unwinding the roll. Accuracy and accuracy when aligning the strips is very important here, since incorrect marking can ruin all subsequent work. Markers work slowly, carefully checking every step they take.

8. The contour is transferred using perforated paper and coal dust, so the workers responsible for this stage always look like grimy stokers.

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10. After the resulting contour, if necessary, outline with a marker.

11. Result.

12. The same place after the work of the artist.

13. When the markup is ready, the artists get to work.

14. In their hands they hold a color printout of the drawing, which they constantly check in the course of work.

15. Paints are mixed on site.

16. Large format printing, especially on large formats, is very grainy. This is clearly visible when you look at such ads up close. Here the artist is attentive even to small details, so the picture comes out brighter and clearer. They paint mainly with brushes, but if necessary, use a roller to immediately paint over a large area with one color. Large projects usually have two artists working on them. Little one draws. One wall takes several days. A day for marking and at least two or three for drawing. The company draws about 10 advertisements per week in New York.

17. See how the markers and the artist work.

18. Final result.

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22. And this is the work for which the markup was made above.

23. Drawing a bottle.

24. Such advertising does not disfigure, but rather decorates the city.

25. I do not assure you that all of it without exception is brilliant. There are some pretty mediocre ones as well. This one for example.

26. Colossal media office in Brooklyn.

27. He is inside.

28. And this is a labor collective.

29. Some more of their New York work. Do you recognize the place? Popular walls are repainted once almost every week.

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41. The text is excellent. I can't imagine something like that on the Russian streets.

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53. And this is Banksy in New York. More precisely, the authorship of Banksy, and the guys from Colossal drew. There were three rats in total. Work of 2004.

More work can be viewed on their website - colossalmedia.com