Ballast Point – How Art Becomes A Label

From Ballast Point:

Brewing is an art…

If you’ve ever bought one of our 6-packs or been to our spots in SD, you can’t help but notice the work of our artist, Paul Elder. We are pretty lucky to have an artist as dedicated to the craft as we are, and his illustrations have been with us every step of the way. So this week, we thought we would give you a little Ballast Point art history lesson and a peek into the journey of a label. 

There are many versions of the story about how Paul Elder became the artist for Ballast Point but here’s the short version: as a Home Brew Mart regular, Paul struck up a conversation with Yuseff about fishing, and then pulled out a sketchbook full of detailed fish illustrations. Everytime Yuseff or Jack had an idea for a beer, they asked Paul to sketch it out—the first one was a yellowtail, the icon for our Pale Ale.

Things have changed a bit since then, but every pencil stroke on the canvas is still meticulously placed, from the way the Calico moves through the water, to the anatomical structure of a skeleton. Paul builds on the image, layer by layer. What starts as a sketch….is transformed into apainting….and placed on our bottles, packaging, and all over our breweries. 

This process is pretty fresh on our minds since Paul is working on two new labels right now, but as with most art, it takes time. We get that of course, but yesterday we did find ourselves wondering why he had not finished the label we thought was coming. We reached out and his reply was a picture of his catch that day, two HUGE yellowtail, because not only can he paint…he is a darn good spear fisherman too. Not to worry though, you’ll be seeing our new labels soon.