Na Hulu Manu a me Na Pua
Nā Hulu Manu a me Nā Pua (Feathers and Flowers).
At the beginning of 2012, I was fortunate enough to be asked to create the illustrations for the annual calendar commissioned by Bank of Hawai‘i for their Private Client Services. Usually, this calendar is produced using photography not illustrations. However, for 2013, they wanted to represent Hawaii’s beautiful native birds. Because nearly all of the native birds have been driven to extinction, it is almost impossible to get enough good photos of living birds to fill a calendar. Enter the illustrator. I was chosen for this project because I have illustrated native birds for many different projects. I also have a very good, long-time working relationship with the creatives at the design firm, Mozaic, that creates collateral for the bank. They are excellent designers, so I knew that the final piece would be stunning. What I did not know was it would turn into one of my most interesting and challenging projects.
Part of the first bird/plant list
The designers gave me a list of the birds and flowers they wanted to use. I would do my own research and then produce rough drawings of the entire calendar to show for approval before moving forward. There was nothing unusual about that. Just about every job I do follows that basic structure. When I sat down to review the list I started to see a problem. The birds were all Hawaiian natives; the plants could all be found in the abundant landscaping throughout the islands. However, as I read through the list, I saw that many of the plants were non-native and most of those were considered highly invasive. This means that many of the plants would be considered as contributing to the destruction of the forests and habitats where the few precious native birds still exist. We were about to pair these birds with things that may be killing many of them. I did not think this would be a good idea. To be fair, the designers did not know this. They saw the plants as beautiful living things. Also, most people would not know this and see only the beauty of the birds and flowers. Under most circumstances, that would be fine, but not in Hawai’i. There are enough people who would know enough to see the mistake. That could have led to them calling the bank out on a huge faux pas. Finally, many of the native plants in Hawaiʻi have gone the way of the birds. Invasive species, human activity and many other factors have contributed to their demise. They just don’t get as much attention as the birds and other animals. Unless they are a large, well-know species like the koa tree, most people don’t even know what plants are natives and many do not care. Plants just don’t have the “cuteness factor” like animals, so they tend to get over-looked. Unless the idea behind the images in the calendar was to show irony or some sort of sad truth, the plants on the list must change. I decided that I needed to bring this to the designers’ attention right away, but how? I really could not just declare everyone wrong and demand change. I also could not just make changes on my own and hope everyone would be fine with that. I needed to make my case against the current list of plants and have a good, workable solution. I am not a fine artist; I am an illustrator. My job is not to follow my heart; my job is to find good visual solutions for my client’s needs. The bank was already sold on the idea of birds and flowers. I did not want the designers to feel that they needed to go back to the bank and tell them that they must start over with a new idea. I decided to make the case that not only should the birds be all natives, but also the plants.
I knew that there must be enough native plants, extinct or not, to pair with the birds. I assumed that the plants would be just a varied and interesting as the birds. These species are not found anywhere else on the planet. That alone makes them unique and special. I did not want to go to the designers without some examples, so I started to research native plants. I found two plants that I could pair with two birds. They still followed the brief; the plants complimented the respective bird in color, shape, etc. However, I now had a new neat layer to add to the illustration; the plants also were a part of the individual bird’s existence either as food or habitat. I also found two examples of the listed plants that were currently being eradicated by the State of Hawai‘i as “highly invasive species that contribute to habitat loss and watershed destruction” (one of these was the white ginger). I meet with the designers and showed them what I found and how it could be re-worked. They were surprised about what I found, and they were thrilled with the solution. It was approved and I could move forward. Little did I know that I was about to start a massive research project.
My thumbnail drawing as presented to Mozaic.
At first, finding native plants that would work seemed easy enough as I only needed fourteen. I would look online and through the numerous books I have, pick fourteen plants, and start to compose my drawings. I way very wrong about that. First, most books available for retail sale about the birds really do not talk about the specific plants they may encounter, especially when Hawaiian forests were still all native plants. The same can be said for books on native plants. Finding pairings suddenly did not seem so straightforward. When I researched online, I found a similar situation. Now what to do? I decided to research the birds’ habitats and then research the plants’ habitats and match them that way. That actually worked out pretty well. In a reasonable amount of time, I was able to get a good list of plants that may have existed in the habitats of the birds. But it still was not that simple. The more I read, the more I came to realize that not only do the habitats differ, each island has its own set of special circumstances. I now had to make sure I paired the right bird with the right plant in the right habitat on the right island. I was in deeper than I ever thought I would be. Fortunately, my obsession for detail kept me searching. I did not have a huge amount of time to do all of this research. The budget and time table were structured around the notion that the research would be kept to a minimum as the first list of plants were easy things like plumeria and bird of paradise. I found myself spending all my free time reading about native birds, plants and habitats. I sourced experts at University of Hawai‘i Mānoa, the Bishop Museum, the Honolulu Zoo, the Hawai‘i Archives, the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) and the Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) state of Hawai‘i. Anyone who I thought might know anything about any aspect of this project, I sought out and talked to, and shared my lists and sketches. It was an exhausting process, but well worth the effort. There many things that I did not know that the experts caught, and I was able to change before the actual illustrations were started. When I thought I had a decent list of pairings (total of 14 in the end), I started to rough out some drawings. I sent these to the designers. After a few tweaks in composition, they approved the rough sketches. I was given the green light to start the actual illustrations.
‘Io and Koa first and second draft art.
The actually drawing of the illustrations was pretty basic and straight forward. I refined my rough drawings. Then I dropped those drawings into the illustrator files and started drawing the shapes and setting up the colors for each illustration. I am a bit old school in that I use the pen tool and draw each line and curve rather than a free hand tool. I like the precision and clean, flat look the pen tool produces. Also, I learned Illustrator when it was Illustrator 3; the pen tool was the only viable option for drawing back then. It is what I am most comfortable using now even though I have learned to use all of the drawing options over the years. Colors were dictated in part by the birds and plants, but I took license with things like background colors, water, etc. to keep the art inline with the creative brief. As I was working, I would lay the illustrations into a layout of the final calendar. I did this to make sure that the colors and compositions were working well together and creating a nice, rhythmic flow thought out the entire piece. I use the same approach with anything I do that is long format (multiple pages).
‘Akialoa and Lobelia
I finished fourteen bird/plant combinations and sent the layout off to the designers for approval. They loved it! A few things did change. For example, the first illustration of ‘io (Hawaiian hawk) showed the bird with his wings spread. The designers preferred him to have his wings folded in a quite pose. Some of the colors and other aspects of the compositions changed as well, and one of the illustrations was dropped in favor for one that worked better. All that I expect when working with people who are very good at what they do. The end product was something we were all pleased with. The client was thrilled too. It was one of their most sought after calendars. The illustrations still hold up on their own to this day. The designers and I went onto re-purpose the illustrations into note cards that are available on their website at www.mozaicpaper.com. One of the nice things about producing art like this in Illustrator is the colors and compositions are easily adjusted for other uses. I plan to continue to find way to re-purpose these illustrations (even the one that was dropped) and even expand on them in the future.
‘Alae ‘Ula (Hawaiian Moorhen) and ‘Ihi‘ihilauākea
Overall, this was probably one of the most interesting and educational projects I ever produced. Yes, I created more work for myself by insisting that we take the time to portray the subjects properly. I put in way more hours than I was paid for, but the end result was fantastic. Hawaii’s native birds and plants will forever be a very special part of my experience and connection to this wonderful place. Now I feel like I know them a little bit and I want to continue to get to know them better.
A hui hou kākou!
Pueo and Maiapilo