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How did we end up with a jellyfish wearing a tutu as August's monthly animal?
My mother-in-law has exceptional taste. She dresses well and does so on a reasonable budget, she knows the proper etiquette for just about every social scenario, and she's always on top of whatever trend is sweeping the nation.
In this instance, she had already purchased, mounted, and framed one of our large Olivia the Octopus tutu art prints. She kept asking me, "Are you doing any other sea themed animals? What about a seahorse?"
So, Casey & I worked on a seahorse. It looked very cool, and, as non-urgent projects often do, it ended up getting shoved aside during the rush to get new holiday designs done in time. And my mother-in-law waited patiently, only asking me about the seahorse a few times before letting the subject go.
Knowing I had let her down and knowing that the seahorse was probably back-burnered til next summer, I decided that a really fun & wild sea-based tutu animal was called for. I thought, "If she liked the idea of the seahorse, I bet she'll LOVE a jellyfish."
Turns out putting a jellyfish into a tutu is NO JOKE. I worked on the comp for an entire day just to get it to a point where I could send the concept over to Casey for Round 1 of our design process. Then, Casey waved her wand and did her magic, and sent the illustrated file back to me for my next contribution to the process. Once the design was laid out, I spent another full day creating bubbles and painting in the highlights/lowlights to make the image "pop".
And, once everything was done, I realized this piece was BEGGING to be turned into a larger composition. When we started doing the calendar, I immediately knew the summer months needed to feature our coastal designs. And, thanks to my mother-in-law's patience, we now had the perfect design for the job. Since I was once stung by a Man-of-War jelly-ish fish in August (I guess they're technically not jellyfish, but tell that to my screaming nerves!!), it seemed the clear winner.
And there you have it! The story behind how August's calendar design ended up swimming with the fishes.