Craft Beer: A Guide to Label Art
© Image top: Claire George. Images bottom (left to right): Dorothea Taylor, Annie Ryan, and Rachel Presky.
All October long, the Directory of Illustration has highlighted packaging art in our weekly newsletter. We covered wine, spirits, perfume, honey, coffee, tea, and everything in between from the best packaging artists in the world. Did we leave anything out? Not really. But we just couldn’t get enough, so here’s an entire blogpost dedicated to BEER. Canned, bottled, hopped, or malted. Cold in the summer, and fresh in the spring. Spiced in the winter or fall. Beer’s so good that most people think beer sells itself. For everyone else who knows better, we’ve come up with a definitive list of the many artists behind the labels of the craft beer scene. Curl up with your favorite brew and join us for look inside the colorful, cool, and funky-fresh world of Craft Beer Art.
Daniel has been an award-winning designer and illustrator in the NYC area for 14 years, specialized in graphics for the local area craft beer scene. He is very much dedicated to helping small businesses and new products grow by providing them with unique and distinct artwork and logos that stand out from the crowd, aid name recognition and add value to each company and brand.
T.P. Design Inc. is a design and illustration firm based out of Atlanta, Georgia. With over 20 years of experience and enthusiasm for the creative process, they specialize in something they call “designustration”: a blend of design fused with illustration. When design, typography, and illustration are created together, they form a cohesive whole that is integrated, not pieced together. These are a series of self-initiated “Space Age and Folklore” beer cans.
Skyler Punnett has been a commercial artist for the last 10 years. His clients include Sony Entertainment, Microsoft, Nokia and Rainmaker Media. His work as an illustrator, storyboard artist and art director combines figurative styles with organic, flowing, natural subject matter and lends itself perfectly to packaging art. These were a series of labels made for the Nelson Brewing Company.
“Skyler’s wide range of experience, coupled with his ability to research new areas of interest …enabled (him) to adapt to clients needs and create original designs based on a deep understanding of the subject matter.”- Leif Miltenberger Managing Partner Hired Guns Creative
Charlie Wagers is a graphic designer, art director and illustrator, the product of gray Midwestern skies and a blue collar, Rust Belt aesthetic. Formally trained in fine arts, he draws inspiration from the antique and arcane: early printing techniques, vintage cameras and films, aged textures, forgotten books, and—oddly enough—old neon signs. 11th Hour Brewing Co. is a locally owned brewery & tap house in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Having just moved to the area, Charlie was hired to create a series of illustrations to represent several of their beers.
Nothing says Autumn quite like Martin Reznick’s craft beer packaging design for Allendale Brew Co. Despite being proficient in digital (Adobe Suite, HTML), Martin’s preferred weapon of choice is always pen and ink. Even though Martin spends countless hours glued to the screen working on Photoshop, what really makes him tick is to get absolutely filthy with inks while screen printing and etching or to draw some blood while lino-cutting!
Marc Osborne is an illustrator who specializes in label art and design, particularly labels for craft beer. While most beer has a shelf life, this has kept the pace of illustration to a quick hum, refining his skills to work efficiently and quickly on the next project. While gathering labels for his growing collection, Marc also enjoys observing the quirky people of his hometown, Savannah Georgia, and getting invested in the culture there. Drawing wildlife, people, and his friends’ imaginative stories keeps his illustration full of unique ideas. Label Design, Beer Illustration, Food and Beverage advertising, and Animal Illustration are just some of the amazing work that can be provided.
