DRAWING THE WORLD for Bridgestone
It is the crack of dawn in Pershing Square, downtown LA, and I am mapping out an 18-foot circle in chalk.
The crew will join me in an hour, by which time the circle needs to look like the world-literally.
Using sidewalk chalk on an extended kids’ chalk holder, I’m gazing down at my iPad, referencing an image of the globe. This will become the first circular motif of the shoot for Bridgestone Tires.
By the time the crew arrives, I’m mostly done, just shading in the US while the drone is calibrated and the talent populate the set. Today, it’s a horde of eager little ones, tasked with sitting on the ground and looking as though they’d been up at the crack of dawn drawing the globe.
By the time the drone is in the sky, the kiddos have drawn so much that the image looks less like a recognisable version of our planet and more like a collection of mini stories: tractors driven by chickens, hearts made of ice cream, balloons scattered everywhere. These eager little artists had been highly underestimated in their speed and efficiency at completely dismantling the first setup.
With no time for a redo, we forge forward. I redraw some outlines and loosen up. You really can’t have control over everything on set and famously not with little ones involved.
Later that day, we solidify the circular motif with a handmade flower crown made from wilt-resistant faux flowers, and a game of football between goal posts my assistant and I set up in a beautiful outdoor space.
I had a great time drawing the world, and I’ve used that chalk extender on many projects since - even to mark out huge mural design outlines - so thats a major win.
Thankful for the flexibility and collaboration of the crew, the talent of all those future chalk artists a that led to another fun and natural outcome.