This illustration was done for a direct mail campaign promoting a motivation lecture. The theme for the campaign was "The Labors of Hercules." The campaign would use 9 mailings, with a different illustion for each mailing.

The client wanted to depict the 11th Labor, "The Apples of the Hesperides," for the first mailing.

Briefly, the story of the 11th Labor goes like this. The golden apples were kept in a garden at the northern edge of the world where they were guarded by a multi-headed dragon named Ladon, and also by the Hesperides (nymphs) who were the daughters of Atlas. Not an easy task, however, like this illustration, it had to be accomplished.

Follow the steps to see how it was done.