This summer Costa Coffee made a big impact on the festival scene thanks to Handsome Frank illustrator Luke McConkey. The UK coffee giants took a big spot at Boardmasters Festival - a live music and surfing/skateboarding competition event set in and around the town of Newquay, Cornwall - and Costa tasked Luke with bringing the visual energy.
Luke was invited to create a series of vibrant and detailed artworks which were used across Costa's impressive experiential installation and branded space. The work also adorned an array of props and some highly sought after merchandise - the reversible bucket hats soon became the festival's must have accessory.
We caught up with Luke to reminisce about the summer project and he revealed a few hidden secrets in the artwork.
How do you dream up all those character interactions?
Oh man, it's tough if you think about it too much! At least it is for me, I tend to get stuck when I try and plan that stuff out. In this case I just kind of let things start happening much like when you're at a festival or in the park or at the beach, no one organises or plans anything, it's all just happening at once and stuff happens because other stuff happened you know? I reckon in the deep depths of the psyche it's drawing from past experiences and stuff I've seen or maybe want to see but don't quote me on that. But once I get going I can get on a bit of a roll and get excited and start thinking "...ooo and this guy could do this and she could be here doing that.." kind of thing you know?
We think we spotted you in the festival scene—are your characters often based on real people?
YAAAAAS! No one got on to it...is that unprofessional?!?! I did stick me, my son and wife in there, it felt like a nice bit of fun and maybe a case of pining to go to a festival! Much like their activities, the characters just sort of happen. We've all met and interacted with so many people over the years I think it all hangs round which is a nice thought really, that these people make their way into my work subconsciously.
This might be our first branded coffee van! Did you get involved in the many ways the artwork would be used?
Probably for the better, I was only tasked with creating the three illustrations for the team to use. I was absolutely blown away by what they came up with, sometimes you think it'll just be on a poster or a cup or something, I think there was a vending machine too. I managed to get a hold of a wicked beer cooler, bucket hat and hand held fan!
How has your art-style evolved over the last 2 years?
It's changed a lot I think, maybe not to other folk but I can certainly look at bits and think "wow...that's how I was approaching that a year ago". I think as the past two years have rolled on I've just been refining my style, being lucky enough to do this as a job I get to spend a lot of time working, practicing and trying new things. I've tried to hold on what makes it fun for me, fun bold, goofy stuff you know? I would say I think it's becoming a little more delicate than my work two years ago, lines are thinner and I'm trying to get a little more detail in there and be more mindful of composition.
What’s your dream collab project?
I'd love to work on something physical, like an installation for something where I can Illustrate and design pieces, that could be really fun. I think it's a nice bit of validation when the big folk want to work with you; Nike, The New Yorker, Apple etc - they'd be cool!. That said, you never know what's around the corner, which is something I've learned over the last 2 years, expect your expectations to be blown away!
I've tried to hold on what makes it fun for me, fun bold, goofy stuff you know?
