The Sketch

 The Sacramento Valley Conservancy is a non-profit, accredited land trust founded in 1990 that preserves natural and working landscapes in the Sacramento Valley of California. Its mission is to protect scenic open spaces, wildlife habitats, and agricultural land in Sacramento, Amador, Sutter, Yuba, and Yolo counties through land protection, stewardship, and community engagement. The organization manages properties like Camp Pollock and Deer Creek Hills Preserve, relying on donations and volunteers for its operations. For their 2025 annual fundraising celebration, Treasures of the Valley, they partnered with a local brewery, Touchstone Brewing Company, for a special new brew and to raise funds to help protect local land, wildlife habitats, and outdoor access. With this in mind, a creative design for a beer can label that would accompany this collaborative new brew was needed.

Special consideration during the design ideation process was to be given in regard to aligning the artwork with Sacramento Valley Conservancy’s mission, accomplishments, and to the themes of open space protection, agriculture, and protected wildlife. Before my sketch, I researched all of the different areas under SVC’s protection, the habitats, the various types of wildlife that inhabited those areas, and how each naturally interacted with each other. Other specifications given included size, space of my choice for the Sacramento Valley Conservancy logo, and space in the center for the Touchstone Brewing Co. logo.

Early in conception, I knew that I wanted to have a Great Blue Heron as one of the main animals in focus as it inhabits many areas of the Sacramento Valley region. Many other animal considerations included squirrels, foxes, fish, ducks, frogs and sparrows. While I wanted to have the region’s wetlands and American River as a main focus, I also wanted to tie in the popular hiking and multi-use trails in its vicinity, as well as the agricultural lands in the area. Taking this into account, I decided to use many curves in my sketch to act as a dynamic backdrop that connected many of these lands together into one cohesive shape. I also wanted to align the curvature of these landscapes against the shape of the heron’s wings.

My consideration for color choice included greens and blues as elemental and environmental markers, and oranges to highlight the beautiful sunsets of the area and its complimentary relationship with blue. I also liked the grounding and vibrant nature it had against the pale green I chose.

Illustration Process and Collaboration

 Later refinements began as I started to illustrate my sketch in Adobe Illustrator. I had to move around certain aspects of my sketch so that I could get a better placement of certain elements. Other aspects from my sketch were omitted such as the fox, fish and frog due to timing and overcrowding spaces, but other additions were later implemented such as the ducklings instead of two adult ducks that I originally planned and the dragonflies hovering over the cattails. I also added a deer to define the space near the trail, but in collaboration with Amy Rodrigues, SVC Communications & Marketing Director, we landed on having one head of cattle as cattle grazing is a prominent aspect of Sacramento Valley Conservancy’s protected lands.

The Beer

 Touchstone Brewing Company’s special brew, Perpetuity, is a hoppy pale ale with notes of citrus and fresh grass. It evokes a sense of spring air in a glass and of sunlight spilling over a meadow at dawn. The colors of my design describes Touchstone’s Perpetuity in a visual sense. The pale greens, blues and oranges are a perfect reflection of the beer’s flavor. Perpetuity is currently available at their brewpub in Sacramento, California.

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