The ADC 95th Annual Awards are here! Yes, the Call for Entries for one of the oldest and most respected industry award shows in the world has been launched, with the help of BBDO New York‘s “Rare For A Reason” campaign, featuring beautifully designed ads which highlight just how uncommon it is to win a top honor. 

To create the campaign, BBDO New York tapped into the talents of various artists from around the world. We at ADC love to shine the spotlight on creative talent, and so we will be featuring the artists throughout the Call for Entries season.

Our next artist is already well known in ADC circles: she’s a Young Guns 12 winner and one of only two Artist-in-Residence Awards winners from YG12.

KELSEY DAKE
Illustrator
Phoenix, AZ

www.kelseydake.com

Follow @kdakes

How did you wind up with a crazy, crazy career of doing drawings for a living?

I’ve just always been drawing, never really thought of it as a career though. I was going to go to school for hotel/restaurant management when my high school art teacher got in my face and told me I was wasting talent. I applied to art school, got in, and you can fill in the rest.

How would you describe the kind of work you do?

Honestly, I don’t think it’d be fair for me to answer that and pigeonhole myself, my style is just me?

Walk us through this project.

BBDO gave me the quadruplets copy, and I got to go from there. When I heard I’d be drawing a poster having to do with quadruplets, I instantly thought of complete chaos, and wet stuff. A lot of wet stuff.

What various mediums did you bring to the finished piece?

I used ink and watercolor to make this; watercolor washes for the skin, digital color for everything else. All the linework is drawn by hand.

Any thoughts on the finished work?

I like it! Wet stuff!

What’s on the horizon for you in terms of other projects?

As a freelancer, stuff comes and goes super quickly. I know I have a few projects coming out here shortly, but at the moment, sorta free work wise this week.

As rare as an ADC Cube is, an ADC Young Guns Cube is even rarer. How has life in that super-rare club been treating you since your own win?

It’s like instant cred. Working in the creative industry is hard sometimes because you’ll tell people, “oh I draw,” and they’re like “sure, sure” and brush you off super fast. But when someone hears that you won Young Guns, people really respect that. I know that’s dumb and people should just be cool to everyone out the gate, but that isn’t the case most of the time. Young Guns = Instant Cred.

How does wwinning an ADC Cube Compare to giving birth to quadruolets?

Well, the Cube sits nicely on your desk, doesn’t talk back, and most certainly isn’t wet. Also, the Cube isn’t very painful, I mean unless you like drop it on your foot or something, but comparably less painful than childbirth I’m sure. But the drawback of a Cube is that it can’t take care of you when you are old.

The ADC 95th Annual Awards Call for Entries is now open. 

ENTER THE ADC 95th ANNUAL AWARDS