Stock photography is bloody useful, cost-effective, quick and easy, but it can also come off a little lazy, too general, and far too easy to spot.

Here we lovingly call it B-roll—need a man holding a hammer to fill some empty space? We got that b-roll!

For a recent project, Citrix wanted to illustrate a PowerPoint presentation with many very specific photos. The main problem of course would be sourcing them all, but trying to tie them together would be a problem too, when they’re all from different photographers and shoots.

So we suggested illustrating them instead, here are a couple:

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No, not that Sam, and not this one either. Neither of those Sam’s are very safe.

The Sam I’m talking about is a new superhero character we developed recently for Snackbrands. Safety Sam.

The sketches above are where the project started out. Quirky male, somewhere between a Ninja Turtle and Toastman it would seem. Then half way through Sam turned into a girl, because it’s just that sort of name. In fact, I think that’s what happened to our Sam. She’s not here, so I can get away with it.

Below is where it ended up:

Illustration is a great way to enhance a project, so keep it in mind, and remember that Orion can do it.