THE HORSE
THE AD THAT BECAME A MEME | AKA “I DREW IT, REALLY!”
I created this illustration for an art school’s ad campaign, and it became one of the most famous images on the internet. Now when the topic comes up, I often hear “No, you didn’t!” But I diiid!
Client: Gursoy Art School
Categories: Social Media, Illustration, OOH
Role: Creative Direction, Ideation, Art Direction, Illustration
Featured in: Entrepreneur, ICON (El Pais), BuzzFeed
The Origins
LEARN TO DRAW FAST
It was initially designed as an OOH campaign of an art school, and the horse was one of the three pieces. You can see the initial work below.
The Horse as a Meme
The original drawing was about progress as it gradually became more skillful from left to right. But many memes use it flipped to express the feeling that something's quality has diminished over time.
Meme Generators
This is a screenshot of one of the online horse meme generators. You can create one for yourself on imgflip.com or meme-arsenal.com
Miscellaneous
Further Impact on Culture
AN ART EXHIBITION IN BERLIN
Usually, advertising borrows from art. But one of the memes was reproduced as a piece of art by Christine Wang for her solo exhibition in Berlin.
The Other Pieces of the Campaign
Actually, it was a three-piece campaign, but the one with the horse was the front-runner. Here are the other two.
