Last night a few GasPedal crew members and I had the opportunity to sit down with Mike Rohde following an intense WOM Crash Course. Mike’s the guy behind Rohdesign and is a truly talented sketch artist and cartoonist.
Mike was generous enough to share some of his drawings with the group. His work is creative and perceptive, and given all the ideas we went over in the day, it was amazing to see how much he had conveyed in his notes (to get an idea, check this out).
Thumbing through his sketches, it struck me that one of the things that made Mike’s work so impressive was his ability to work with shadows. Using only pen on paper, Mike was able to bring ideas and images to life–images full of depth and texture.
And for some twisted reason, I immediately thought of the great marketing in the world. I thought of how the most remarkable companies thrive on blowing us away with fantastic, wonderful experiences, the kinds of experiences that come from a relentless attention to the details everyone else overlooks (or simply cannot see at all).
The truly great artists and the most amazing companies see the shadows like Mike does.
2 Comments
December 26, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Cale, thanks for the very kind words!
It was great to hang out with the Gaspedal team for a little while. Next time I’m going to plan for more time in Chicago.
Shadows are very important to provide depth and context. So often they go unnoticed, but without them, images often feel flatter… missing something.
Thanks for the observation!
December 28, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Thanks Mike, and thanks again for joining us and sharing your work with us. Great stuff!