May 2014 – christine's blog

Monthly Archives: May 2014

WWE Kids Magazine

I recently completed some illustrations for WWE Kids Magazine. The concept was to use thumbprints as the base for illustrating some of the WWE Superstars famous faces. I love creating little doodles like this! It was fun to sketch them over and over to find the right expression and animation to convey who they are. Some like Hulk Hogan and Roman Reigns were spot on with the first sketch. Others like Daniel Bryan and Kofi Kingston took a few more tries to get them right.

And just in case you don’t know who these guys are.. Here are three examples!

Connor the Crusher Tribute

One of the missions at WWE is to put smiles on people’s faces the world over; and in some cases, very special smiles.
Connor Michalek might have been small in stature, but he was big in spirit and character. This is a heart wrenching story of a young boy with a life threatening disease and how WWE was privileged to help fulfill his wish of meeting his favorite WWE Superstar, Daniel Bryan back in 2012. This past April, Connor — who went by Connor the Crusher — spent time backstage with the WWE roster, and even a little time in the ring where he took out Triple H. The excitement culminated when Connor was able to sit front row at WrestleMania 30 and made even more special by Daniel Bryan sharing his winning moment with him. Sadly, Connor died shortly after that.
WWE created this video to honor Connor. It’s a very accurate look at how the wrestlers, crew and staff feel about making everyone’s experience with WWE special.

NXT Summer Vacation

This was one of the most ambitious photo shoots I have accomplished in a while. 11 talent in 1 day.
The shoot was for a new WWE.com series called, NXT: Summer Vacation. Jon Ragel photographed 11 of the NXT Divas for two group galleries and 6 individual galleries throughout one location. The girls were mainly up and coming talent so this was their big introduction to our audience. It was a very fun and exciting day for everyone. We accomplished EVERYTHING on our shot list, ON TIME. Rare and awesome!

Here’s a look at some images from the shoot and behind the scenes..

Two of the toughest Divas, Paige and Lana face off at the pool party.

It’s the bubble dance with Emma and Veronica!

Bayley, Charlotte and Sasha shoot ’em up!

Behind the Scenes…

Paige getting her goth look ready for her individual gallery.

The great hair and makeup line up!

Paige and Lana trying to upstage the other Divas..

The schedule. #NAILEDIT

Photography by Jon Ragel
Production and Photo Direction by Christine Reilly
Wardrobe Styling by Sofia Karvela
Hair by Alexander Sampson for ABTP, assisted by Neil Chang
Makeup by Taryll Atkins for ABTP, assisted by Karinita Prieto
Location Manager: Alan Levi

SPD 49

WWE magazine was honored as a Medal Finalist in Photo Illustration as well as a Merit Award by The Society of Publication Designers in the world’s most prestigious editorial design competition.

Kyla Paolucci, Christine Reilly, David Hilton, Joelle Brito

Creative Director, David Hilton
Photo Director, Christine Reilly
Illustrator, Leona Pearson