Award-winning illustrator (and creator of The Lonely Beast) Chris Judge writes for Culture about his ambitious new Dublin Docklands mural project, #DrawMeDocklands.
The Dublin Docklands area is in an exciting transition both physically and culturally, so I was delighted to be one of a number of artists asked to pitch on this unique project.
Having worked on several ways to approach the brief, I was then thrilled to win it with my interactive idea for the pitch. It is such a wonderful opportunity to create something special for this part of Dublin Docklands so it was a huge honour that the teams in Business to Arts and Dublin City Council chose me - as I was aware my idea was a little ambitious.
I wanted to make something that included the people who live and work in the area, as well as Dubliners in general. It was fantastic using the hashtag #DrawMeDocklands across all social media to get people involved, sending photos of themselves or friends for me to use as reference. It was such a joy illustrating such a diverse collection of people from around the globe that now inhabit our amazing city. As I worked through the 70 Dubliners featured in the mural, it really highlighted just how different and more open this city is today. I added in some of my heroes that I hope some people might be able to pick out.
I wanted each character to be exactly life-sized so that the viewer will feel as if they are walking along in unison with the crowd as the pass by. I wanted to make it bright, fun and colourful so I carefully chose two palettes, one for the background and one for the characters themselves so that there is a sense of depth.
I feel the Docklands Arts Fund is incredibly important at this point in time and is vital to help this area become a beautiful landmark for artists to make their mark during this transition. I look forward to seeing what future projects emerge from it around the area.
Docklands Art Fund currently have a Small Grants Scheme open for artists interested in working in the Docklands Area - find out more here.
Pictures: Enda Cavanagh
