Joel needed to have both mascots (the TCU Horned Frogs and the Wisconsin Badgers) large and central with roses somehow tied in. Last year, I had the mascots battling in the actual Rose Bowl stadium so this year, I depicted the moment just before impact as the two behemoths charge each other on top of a pristine hill of roses.
Above I started, with loose thumbnails just to understand the composition and what each mascot looked like!
As I decided on the two battling on the Rose hill, I took the sketches farther with each mascot more defined.
Above is the finished piece. Room is left above their heads for the header of the magazine while text will go over the bed of roses.
