Currency Illustration for Imaginary Money

Currency Illustration is the next best thing to printing your own money

Fantasy Currency Illustration

Several summers ago, I was contracted to develop a detailed design for a start-up Tequila brand. The client wanted to produce custom, erzatz money to be used in a promotional way. I got deep into it before deciding to ‘pull the plug’ on the project to cut my losses. It was a classic case of terrible Art Direction!So, here, published for the first time ever, are some of the fruits of my labors on this bear of an assignment…

The Money Shot

The brand was to revolve around the colorful figure of Pancho Villa, the Mexican military leader. The above was extrapolated from this rather blurry photo:The client wanted an alternative portrait, so I created this image. It has not yet been worked into the design…A couple of pistols for our man:…And, for flair, a cockfight:

Funny Money Currency Illustration

All of these elements were to go into this funny money. Here is a sketch showing the front face of the currency bill…I actually got close to finishing this massive job, but, in the end, I hung up my spurs to ride again another day!