Oh crab!
Success in the IMA Vegan Sushi art competition
We entered this art competition because we love the company’s ethos and its aim to help the planet we live on. Ima makes vegan sushi in the hope to end overfishing and reduce plastic waste in oceans. With each new product they launch an art competition for artists and makers around the world to enter a design for their packaging. With a tray made from plant plastic and a cardboard sleeve, we think they’re awesome!
We wanted our design to reflect the beauty of the ocean, so we looked into traditional Japanese artwork and found beautiful woodcuts of ponds. The line treatment in the water inspired us and became a key influence for one of our designs. We developed a pastel drawing inspired by the line-work, composition and the magical storytelling of Japanese woodcuts.
We also looked into beautiful corals and life at the bottom of the sea where crabs crawl. Through sketches, the design developed into layers of coral, rocks and seaweed, this composition suited the long dimensions of the cardboard wrap around. For the final illustration (see images above), we used our tablet to digitally create smooth lines and curves. Through colours and textures we aimed to represent crab, the flavour of this particular sushi. After many tweaks to colour, layout and details we were happy with our illustration!
Ima Sushi announced on Instagram that we had been shortlisted, and a few days later, they chose our design! We were very pleased and excited to see our design wrapped around the packaging. We hadn’t entered an art competition before, but it proved to be a fun way to get creative and draw something fresh and different; it’s also so rewarding knowing we’re helping an up-and-coming vegan, world-changer company like Ima.
We thought we’d also share some images of an alternative design we worked on (but ultimately didn’t enter), as we loved the process and were really please with how it came out.
