CIL Paint Ad – Penny Project with DDB Canada

Recently, I have been working on some incredible projects. I got this amazing opportunity to work with David Ross and Dean Hamann from DDB Canada to cooperate on an advertisement project for CIL Paint.

The print ad is meant to be a continuation of the TV commercial that was a huge success last year.

The ad concept was to photographically and digitally construct a penny where the Queen was putting on lipstick to show the affordability yet great quality of CIL paints – “Beauty on a small budget”.

Final Ad Layout

I was so enthusiastic about the idea when it was presented to me that I started organizing the photoshoot the same night. Since Canadian pennies are no longer being circulated, it wasn’t easy to find a penny, especially not one that was perfect without any scratches. So I simply bought a collector’s penny that was in mint condition for ten dollars. It was definitely worth it, particularly if it meant that it would save editing time in post-production.

But searching for the coin was not the difficult part, it was imagining the Queen’s attire when she took the photo for the penny. I re-imagined the Queen with some added humor by hiring a curvier model to emphasize the sexiness of the act of applying lipstick.

©2016 Clifton Li

For the photoshoot, I used a large Photoflex strobe softbox to give me consistent lighting and to match the lighting of the penny. Photoflex creates softboxes that have quick-release corners making them easy to set-up and tear-down. Their softboxes are made with a DuraCloth fabric that ensures colour neutrality, softened light, and prevents light leaks. The Queen’s image on the penny was softly and evenly lit, which will also make the retouching job a lot easier. The shadows were painstakingly matched to make the ‘Queen’ appear as realistic as possible.

The setup at the studio

Dress and the model

Thank you to David for providing with me this wonderful and fun opportunity and to Photoflex for sponsoring the photoshoot.