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Eurovision goes Mini-pop with Ben Morris Written by on March 23, 2011 | 2 Comments

Ben Morris is one of our Judges on Juke Box Jury, but he’s also a talented artist with a keen eye on caricature and this year’s Eurovision performers. You’re sure to see his mini-pop icons at some point this year, so we decided to ask Ben to tell us about the project…

The first act for Eurovision 2011 was named as far back as last November.

Immediately I set to work on drawing a mini-pop icon version of the Netherlands’ 3Js, with the plan to do each of the forty two other entrants as and when they were announced. Four months later and Eric Saade’s single black glove was the finishing touch on the whole collection.

It’s a personal fan project at the moment, but the intention has always been to try and work on collections in future years with the official merchandisers and the backing of the EBU.

I have history with icons. For the last three years I’ve produced over 300 for the BBC’s ‘Doctor Who Adventures’ magazine, the incredibly popular children’s magazine that accompanies the longest running sci-fi TV series in the world. I’ve drawn Daleks, Cybermen, Ood and dozens more. Monsters and allies, all of which can be found dotted around the pages and attached to the front of the weekly as part of free gifts (key-rings, stickers, wind-up toys and endless varieties of stationery). It’s tremendously exciting to see my Weeping Angel staring out at me on the bottom shelf at Tesco. And it’s equally exciting to hear the enthusiastic response to them from children.

In May 2010 I attended Eurovision in Oslo, my first one for 16 years. So much had changed since the last contest I went to, which happened to be in the same city, a straight-laced affair where the audience was instructed to wear black tie and there was no merchandise at all, save for the official programme.

Fast forward to the present day and the hardcore fan has a wide choice of impressive Eurovision branded goodies to choose from, from mouse mats to mugs, coins to manbags. And the fans take to the streets, and the venue, in hand-painted t-shirts (and faces!) with an assortment of banners, supporting their favourite act or country.

Portugal's Minipop

Portugal’s Minipop

While admiring one of the official merchandise stalls outside the Oslo Telenor Arena, I had the notion of creating a range of Eurovision minipop icons. If they worked for a Doctor Who audience, a similar collection could work for Eurovision, and might not only be popular with those fans who would already buy merchandise, but children and casual fans too. Perhaps even non-fans. If a product is appealing enough it can reach to a market well beyond its intended audience.

So, once back home in Edinburgh, I set to work on a sample collection of previous winners in icon form and submitted this to the relevant people. After a few months of discussion, I learned that there might possibly be a future to it at some point, but not this year. With that in mind I pressed ahead with creating a collection comprising the forthcoming participants, to be displayed on a Facebook page, to see what the reaction would be from the fans. A trial run if you like, un-commissioned, unpaid, and in my own time.

As I write, the last month has seen 130,000 hits from 15,000 individual users. I’m interpreting that as a thumbs-up!

The icons are all created digitally, in Adobe Illustrator, and it usually takes me a couple of hours to draw one artist. To begin with it was much longer but, as I progressed, I found that certain parts of the icons could be copied and adapted for future characters (eg. microphones, guitars and keyboards) which saved time.

I think the most successful ones are the groups. They are visually more interesting. Although my heart sank every time another group was announced as it meant more work! Witloof Bay and Sjónni’s Friends took six times the amount of time it took to do Mika Newton, who is wearing the simplest of white dresses!

I’ve always wanted these icons to go viral, for the fans to appropriate them to some extent and use them as avatars on forums or Twitter, to support their favourite act and cheer them on. So the gallery on the Eurovision 2011 Mini-pop Facebook page was for this purpose. The accompanying Twitter feed (@EurovisionIcons) would then act as a promotion for the page.

Duncan James on Twitter

Duncan James on Twitter

And the fans do seem to be using the icons, which delights me. I’ve noticed lots of mini-Jedwards, mini-Blues, mini-Stellas and mini-3Js. It’s a uniform way for the fans to support their representatives. Many of the artists have seen them too, and liked them. I’ve heard that the Moldovan and Romanian delegations are particularly keen on them. And Duncan James, from UK entrants Blue, has been using the icons on his Twitter profile photo.

I dreamt of seeing loads of people in Dusseldorf wearing their favourite icon/ act on their t-shirts. But, because this is not officially endorsed, it has to be done on a very small scale with no financial gain. So only 100 or so have been made.

I will be making small 25mm pin badges of the icons which will be available through the Facebook page, along with A3 prints of the 43 icons together, where just materials and postage will be covered. This is not an industry – just me in my spare time! But I have sensed a demand, and hopefully the success of the venture this year will stand me in good stead next year. Time will tell!

I have many suggestions for how the collection could be exploited and developed. Hopefully the mini 3Js created last November will be the start of something big!

About The Author: Ben Morris

An illustrator with over 20 years experience. Since 2012 Morris has worked on various projects for BBC Books, including 'Doctor Who: Who-ology', 'Wit, Wisdom and Timey Wimey Stuff', and 'Doctor Who: Time Trips (The Collection)'. In the Eurovision world he is best known for the Eurovision Mini-pop Icons, a staple of Eurovision fandom since 2011.

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